Identity Theft Crimes: Pay At The Pump - By: D.A. Campbell

Federal law enforcement officials in the United States and Egypt broke up an international ring that thru the use of the online identity theft technique known as phishing were able to steal over a million and a half dollars from Wells Fargo and Bank of America customers.

While authorities described it as a sophisticated operation it looked like the work of amateurs compared to the crew charged with the theft of over forty million credit and debit cards. This group was also connected with the Heartland Payment Systems data break in which out one hundred and thirty million cards at risk.

These kind of mind boggling thefts would make anyone leery of doing business online even though most of the information was gathered offline. However it shouldn't because in spite the staggering volume of these high profile cases, the majority of identity thefts still occur in the offline world.

As an example there is no way many of us are going to stop driving or going to the gas station because of the pay at the pump scam. Although not completely new this is a fairly recent form of identity theft compared to the other versions.

In it identity thieves attach a skimmer onto the gas pump. The skimmer is along the same lines as the one used to steal your card information in a store or a restaurant. It is not noticeable and even if it were many of us do not get out of our car and give the gas pump a through inspection. Some of these skimmers also have cameras connected. This is in case some motorists pay with their debit cards. It can then easily capture their personal identification number.

These identity thieves can easily disconnect the skimmer and move on to the next gas station when they are ready. Or if they see that the pickings are good and no one has gotten suspicious they may just stay right where they are.

The odds are if they do stay put then either it is an inside job of someone working at the station or the gas attendant maybe in cahoots with the thief.

Experts calculate that there are seven hundred thousand gas pumps across the United States that accept payments at the pump. Experts believe to this day every last one of them is vulnerable to this scam.

We are a nation of drivers so this pay at the pump identity theft gets many of us right where it hurts.

About the Author

Discover the early warning signs that can help you avoid becoming another identity theft statistic. Article by Daryl Campbell http://identitytheftprotectionservices.info

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