Compromised bank card
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I buy gift cards for all the gas stations I shop. Its one more step , yes, but it makes the actual shop easier as I never have to worry about the system rejecting my card because it's the 5th station in one day. And, it keeps our credit and debit cards safer. I'm not sure if they are ever completely safe, but its unlikely they will ever be compromised at a gas station.
Just go to the station and buy the brand gift card that you are shopping. You can also get them at most grocery stores. Some places won't let you buy them with credit so I always make sure I have adequate cash on hand.
Just go to the station and buy the brand gift card that you are shopping. You can also get them at most grocery stores. Some places won't let you buy them with credit so I always make sure I have adequate cash on hand.
Gas Station gift cards work quite well. Often they are accepted the same as cash for cash discounts and also get around the "minimum" charges some gas stations require.
If I use a credit or debit card for a gas station, it is always inside. Never ever use a credit card or debit card on the outside. That's been a common warning on the news for a decade now I think.
Skimming cards happens at gas stations, ATMs, restaurants by dishonest employees and the list can go on and on.
Recently someone mentioned on here having noticed the card reader box on the pump not completely closed and apparently it had a skimmer. The recommendations were to use pumps visible from the cashier. If you can see the cashier, they can see you and the pump and if anybody is messing with it. I had not heard that before but always as a rule of thumb go to the pump closest to the front door. Invariably that pump is visible by the cashier. Makes it a little harder to take my pump photos if I'm doing a shop, but also safer for me as a female customer because I am less likely to be bothered in an almost empty station by a pan handler or worse.
Recently someone mentioned on here having noticed the card reader box on the pump not completely closed and apparently it had a skimmer. The recommendations were to use pumps visible from the cashier. If you can see the cashier, they can see you and the pump and if anybody is messing with it. I had not heard that before but always as a rule of thumb go to the pump closest to the front door. Invariably that pump is visible by the cashier. Makes it a little harder to take my pump photos if I'm doing a shop, but also safer for me as a female customer because I am less likely to be bothered in an almost empty station by a pan handler or worse.
The truth is that card readers can be bought off websites now for something like $150 or less. They are very small. It takes all of a second to swipe the card and they can store hundreds of cards before needing to download. They can be anywhere. Keep your card in sight if you can. I recently ordered a meal at a casual restaurant and the server didn't return for 10 minutes (this was not a shop, btw). I contacted the manager and said that is way too long in this day and age for anyway to be out of sight with a customer's credit card. He agreed.
If it is a choice between Debit and Credit cards you should always use a credit card. The consumer liability for them are much less then with debit cards.
I couldn't agree with you more jwolpert! I NEVER use a debit card. There are very few legally mandated protections on debit cards, but the law does offer more protection and liability limits on credit cards.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2015 09:58AM by MW.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2015 09:58AM by MW.
My credit card wallet was stolen (during a shop!), and I was reimbursed for charges to two debit cards. One was for my primary checking account, which I have had for 20 years. The other was for an account I opened as a mystery shop, and I had virtually no relationship with that bank. (I had it with me because I was shopping that bank next.)
I learned that, by request, you can get an old-fashioned debit card that only works at an ATM.
I learned that, by request, you can get an old-fashioned debit card that only works at an ATM.
Gift cards are a great idea! If you have a credit card that pays bonus points in certain stores, consider that when choosing where to purchase the cards. For example, I get a 2% bonus at gas stations but a 5% bonus at office supply stores. I head to Staples to buy the gift card.
Shopper since 2009
MSPA Gold Certified
MSPA Gold Certified
IIRC, if you use a "Visa" branded debit card as a credit card, you have the full protection of a regular Visa credit card. I believe that is in the merchant guidelines.
"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful." Edward R. Murrow
Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.--Branch Rickey
Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.--Branch Rickey
Doesn't oldfashioned cash still work? It is harder to make counterfeit $ than skim a cc.@bodecummings wrote:
My question is: What do you guys who shop gas stations do to keep your cards safe? Is there a better method for payment?
@MSNinja, Some shops require you to use a card at the pump.
We are all here on earth to help others....What on earth the others are here for I don't know.
--W. H. Auden
--W. H. Auden
While gas stations are one place that cards are skimmed, your bank representative was incorrect in stating that most skimming happens there. Actually, most thieves make their first purchases at gas stations. Skimmers are frequently attached to gas pumps but are also placed on ATM machines. Even more frequently they are skimmed by employees who take your card out of sight to process a transaction, such as at a restaurant. Information is also stolen when you purchase something over the telephone such as from a television infomercial.
It's important to really take a look at the gas pump or ATM before swiping your card. The skimmers are good, but there are some tell-tale signs, such as the card swipe covering text on the machine, is loose or the color is slightly "off".
If you're eating out at a restaurant where your server takes your card away to process payment, it's at risk of being skimmed.
Even I, a former fraud investigator and crime prevention specialist, was the victim of fraudulent activity on my debit card. I still use it frequently. There is no form of payment that will guarantee you will never lose your money to criminal activity or human error. All you can do is to continue to be aware and do whatever works best for you.
There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
It's important to really take a look at the gas pump or ATM before swiping your card. The skimmers are good, but there are some tell-tale signs, such as the card swipe covering text on the machine, is loose or the color is slightly "off".
If you're eating out at a restaurant where your server takes your card away to process payment, it's at risk of being skimmed.
Even I, a former fraud investigator and crime prevention specialist, was the victim of fraudulent activity on my debit card. I still use it frequently. There is no form of payment that will guarantee you will never lose your money to criminal activity or human error. All you can do is to continue to be aware and do whatever works best for you.
I am seeing the chip and pin card slots on more retailers. I always stick my card in the slot and not swipe it. The chip and my pin are much safer than the old swipe reader. They cannot skim it from the machine. The transaction is encrypted from the chip in the computer to the central bank. This has cut down CC fraud in Europe drastically and many places will refuse to accept a card that is swipe only. If you are traveling to Europe, you better get a new card issued with the chip contacts on it.
As I stated before, the law is changing next month to place the liability on the vendor instead of the bank, if the card swiped in an old CC machine is fraud where the vendor pays 100% of the fraud charges. This will assure that all card readers nationwide will be upgraded very quickly. I was a victim of fraud after I shopped a 16 location route with return involved. The merchant took my card and read it over the phone to "the manager" at another location and even read my CVC code. Imagine my surprise when someone was trying to buy $400 designer sunglasses off the web in a few hours. No way to prove it was them. My replacement card is chip and pin and has my photo on it. Everyone will be getting them very soon.
As I stated before, the law is changing next month to place the liability on the vendor instead of the bank, if the card swiped in an old CC machine is fraud where the vendor pays 100% of the fraud charges. This will assure that all card readers nationwide will be upgraded very quickly. I was a victim of fraud after I shopped a 16 location route with return involved. The merchant took my card and read it over the phone to "the manager" at another location and even read my CVC code. Imagine my surprise when someone was trying to buy $400 designer sunglasses off the web in a few hours. No way to prove it was them. My replacement card is chip and pin and has my photo on it. Everyone will be getting them very soon.
I think the problem with this law, of having the vendor being responsible for paying you back for CC fraud, is that the vendor could take forever to pay you back! Whereas, the CC Company can credit you back sooner for the fraudulent activity. I hope all the vendors are compliant with the new law by the due date.
The vendor is responsible for the money. The bank will credit your account as they have been doing, then send the bill to the vendor. You will not be getting a check from the vendor, or a credit from the vendor, or anything else like that. The bank bills the vendor. In the past, the bank billed themselves. There will be many vendors who do not want to pay for the new equipment. They will probably quickly find that the charge-backs are more costly than the new readers.
I have yet to see a chip-and-pin reader at a gas station, and I am curious to see how quickly they appear there. Even more curious to see the reaction in NJ where drivers are convinced that it is their unalienable right not to get out of their cars (full serve only by law), but are going to have to enter their PIN. Unless they are willing to tell the code to the station attendant?
I have yet to see a chip-and-pin reader at a gas station, and I am curious to see how quickly they appear there. Even more curious to see the reaction in NJ where drivers are convinced that it is their unalienable right not to get out of their cars (full serve only by law), but are going to have to enter their PIN. Unless they are willing to tell the code to the station attendant?
@SunnyDays2 wrote:
I think the problem with this law, of having the vendor being responsible for paying you back for CC fraud, is that the vendor could take forever to pay you back! Whereas, the CC Company can credit you back sooner for the fraudulent activity. I hope all the vendors are compliant with the new law by the due date.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
I would think some type of portable machines would be in order. Remember, some of those people who use full service are not able to easily get out of their cars. There must be an accommodation for those with disabilities.
Except that it is "chip and sign", not chip and PIN like in Europe. I read an article the other day that, while card will be harder to skim, you won't have to enter a pin and sign instead because banks in the US don't want to have to deal with people having to remember additional pins. And sure enough, I've already received my first two card replacements with chip, and they specify you don't need a pin (you can have one to get cash, but that's different).
And I have finally visited my first store where they had the chip equipment. It takes longer for it to deal with the card--possibly twice as long as swiping and when the slot was pointed to for me to insert the card I had visions of a shredder spitting back bits and pieces of my plastic card. 
But all went well.
But all went well.
I read that article, too, or one similar. It said having chip and sign was progress and better than nothing, but also said that it was not the same security as they have elsewhere in the world where it is chip and pin. It's a partial step towards the protection. Target shoppers may have noticed that they are rolling out the chip and sign devices. At least one of my local stores has it now. It is annoying long (only because we are used to that instant swipe). You put the card in and wait what seems like an eternity for the permission to remove to it sign to appear. Then again, it beats trying to guess which way to hold your card to swipe it or having to reswipe because the thing isn't reading for one reason or another.
Target was where I ran into the chip reader. It was long, but not that long. What concerned me was the resistance when pushing my card into the little slot--which was why I was thinking 'shredder'.
Considering my card was stolen at Target when there was that big hack, I'll take whatever increased security I can get. My credit card was recently issued and it has a chip. Nothing else I have has a chip yet.
Silver certified for 11 years and happily shopping Arizona!
@Flash wrote:
Target was where I ran into the chip reader. It was long, but not that long. What concerned me was the resistance when pushing my card into the little slot--which was why I was thinking 'shredder'.
I never did like Targets old reader where it would "capture" your card. I was always thinking it would break and not give me my card back! Then of course, the system was fully hacked. They were not using the industry standard readers and doing something different and naturally it backfired on them.
Heck, I got a free year of credit watch from Target for that faux pas. Federal government is now paying for their database being compromised . . .
@myst4au wrote:
The vendor is responsible for the money. The bank will credit your account as they have been doing, then send the bill to the vendor. You will not be getting a check from the vendor, or a credit from the vendor, or anything else like that. The bank bills the vendor. In the past, the bank billed themselves. There will be many vendors who do not want to pay for the new equipment. They will probably quickly find that the charge-backs are more costly than the new readers.
I have yet to see a chip-and-pin reader at a gas station, and I am curious to see how quickly they appear there. Even more curious to see the reaction in NJ where drivers are convinced that it is their unalienable right not to get out of their cars (full serve only by law), but are going to have to enter their PIN. Unless they are willing to tell the code to the station attendant?
@SunnyDays2 wrote:
I think the problem with this law, of having the vendor being responsible for paying you back for CC fraud, is that the vendor could take forever to pay you back! Whereas, the CC Company can credit you back sooner for the fraudulent activity. I hope all the vendors are compliant with the new law by the due date.
I love it then!
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