SPRING, Texas – Whether you know it or not, every time you swipe your credit card or debit card criminals could be stealing your card information with a card skimmer attached to an ATM.
"The worst part of this crime is that it's so dishonest, so hard to spot," Trevor Hull said.
Hull from Spring Branch said he was defrauded on Oct. 13 after he stuck his card into an ATM at the Memorial City Mall
He said the card slot on the machine seemed a little too bulky, a little bit weird, so he took a picture of it, but he swiped his debit card anyway.
Hull said two weeks later, someone started making big withdrawals from his bank account totaling over $1,000.
“This person who stole my debit card information made five different withdrawals over two days totaling $1,055,” Hull said.
Hull immediately had his card shut off and filed a police report with the Houston Police Department.
What should you do if you think there may be a card skimmer on an ATM or a gas pump?
Before sticking a card into any ATM, experts say to grab the card reader part of the ATM and try to pull it off.
If it is loosens or comes apart, there is a card reader attached to it. Also, cover the ATM machine keyboard with your hand whenever you enter your pin code.
There could be a tiny hidden camera, that the scam artists have attached to the top of that ATM, a camera the skim artists will use to record your private pin code so they can steal from your debit card account.
