Kamloops This Week
Kamloops Mounties have released photos of a credit-card skimmer that was installed in a gas-pump payment slot in Valleyview recently.
Staff Sgt. Edward Preto said the photos are being released to make the public aware of the type of card skimmer used to capture credit-card information at the Chevron gas station at 1795 Trans-Canada Hwy. 
That unit has been sent to the RCMP’s technical unit for analysis, to determine if the scam netted thieves customers’ PIN numbers.
Preto said Chevron has told police it has put measures in place to prevent such incidents from happening at all Chevron gas stations in British Columbia.
As illustrated in the photographs, the skimmer is difficult to detect and appears to be a normal part of a card reader. Skimmers are used by organized crime throughout Canada to access credit-card information
Skimmed data could be used to manufacture a counterfeit card or the data could be used to make telephone or Internet purchases (also referred to as “card not present” fraud).
While a Chevron employee discovered the skimmer on July 16, Mounties did not alert the public, via the media, until July 28.
Police explained the 12-day delay by saying they did not want to cause “undue alarm if there was no risk.”
An analysis of the skimmer and a review of Chevron records should determine whether the card skimmer was able to collect data. If there was no remote download, police said it’s unlikely the scam netted any information before it was discovered.
To be certain, Mounties are advising motorists who gassed up on or shortly before July 16 to review bank and credit-card records.
