Be careful with your credit card. At gas stations, a discreet trap can clone your card and cause unexpected charges to your account.
This is the story of an invisible heist that costs Americans nearly a billion dollars every year. The thieves don’t target banks or armored trucks. They operate in silence, infiltrating payment terminals and ATMs. Their arsenal? Discreet devices and chips, along with hidden micro-cameras that allow them to scan and copy the banking data of hundreds of thousands of customers.
Skimming is the name of this method, an Anglicism derived from the verb “to skim.” In practice, scammers install a device on the card reader to copy information from the magnetic strip. This data is then encoded onto counterfeit cards, which are used to withdraw cash or make payments.
U.S. intelligence agencies announced earlier this year that they had carried out a major operation to curb this scourge and dismantle criminal networks. This phenomenon also exists in France, but the criminals’ modus operandi differs.
In the United States, scammers enter a store, place a skimmer on a payment terminal, and slip away. “In France, this specific phenomenon does not appear to have been observed,” says Jean-Baptiste Boisseau, co-founder of Signal Arnaques. Here, skimming tends to occur on payment terminals in public places, such as gas stations. “At gas pumps, the equipment can be somewhat outdated and lack proper oversight, making it a weak point identified by scammers,” he adds.
This vulnerability is confirmed by official figures. According to the Payment Security Observatory, the skimming cases recorded in recent years have almost exclusively involved fuel dispensers. In 2023, for example, only three attacks were identified in France, and all involved this type of equipment. In 2018, 207 attacks were recorded.
The main problem: these frauds are particularly difficult for victims to detect. As Jean-Baptiste Boisseau points out, “the goal is to clone the card without the person noticing: the customer retrieves their card as usual, and it is only later that they discover charges that do not correspond to their purchases.”
Despite this discretion, certain clues can help identify an attempted fraud, according to the National Consumer Institute. It recommends checking the condition of the card reader before use. A loose housing, a wobbly slot, or an unusual device should raise a red flag. In such cases, it’s best to avoid inserting your card and opt for another terminal or contactless payment instead.
