2 credit card skimmers found in Butler County

UPDATE @ 4:42 p.m.

Two skimmers found Friday were pulled from two different gas pumps at the Shell station, 2 East Ave. (Ohio 63), just west of Interstate 75.

These are the first skimmers found in Butler County in 2017, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds said.

MORE: One Butler County stretch of road popular place for skimmers

“On the one hand I’m glad our stepped up inspections are protecting consumers by ridding these things from the pumps,” Reynolds said. “But on the other it’s very disappointing to know that these criminals are still out there and getting away with it.”

Reynolds said it’s important for station owners and managers to take the security of their pumps more seriously by utilizing security tape and changing out vulnerable locks.

“There are more steps many of them can take to secure their pumps and prevent these thefts,” said Reynolds.

INITIAL REPORT:

Two illegal credit card skimmers were found Friday at the Shell/IGA Express gas pumps in Monroe, 2 East Ave.

Monroe police were called at 3:21 p.m. Friday, according to Detective Greg Meyers.

The credit card skimmers were found during a routine inspection by the Butler County Auditor’s Office.

“They’re (Auditor’s Office) doing a great job in checking gas pumps for skimmers,” Meyers said. “We’re getting more information from the Auditor’s Office on past inspections at those pumps.”

He also said police would be checking surveillance videos at the gas stations to identify possible suspects.

Nearly a dozen skimmers devices have been found at various Butler County gas stations since November 2015.

When a credit card is run through an illegal skimmer, the small device stores the cardholder’s data. Once the credit information is obtained, the thief can then sell the information or clone the credit card.

The Butler County Auditor’s Office is also checking the pumps more regularly.

County Auditor Roger Reynolds increased the number of inspectors in the Weights and Measurements Division in an effort to crack down on the illegal devices. He said his employees are checking almost all 120 gas stations in the county at least once a week.

“Butler County has been very proactive,” Reynolds said about efforts to weed out skimmers. “No other county is out checking pumps on a weekly basis.”

Consumers will continue to be vulnerable to credit card theft because Visa and MasterCard have postponed until 2020 a deadline to have chip card technology installed on all fuel pumps, Reynolds told the Journal-News last month.

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