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The Department of Weights and Measures has expanded its inspections to protect consumers who use credit cards to buy gasoline or other motor fuels.

Skimmers are illegal devices that can copy the electronic data encoded into a credit card. Criminals who commit identity theft use that data to make counterfeit credit cards or to make electronic purchases without the victim’s knowledge.

Some devices are placed on the outside of a credit card reader. Some are portable devices that can be used to capture data when a restaurant server takes possession of a credit card to collect payment for a meal. And some, such as the device pictured above, can be installed inside a retail fueling device to capture data whenever a credit card is used to purchase gasoline.

The new procedure started on June 1, 2007. More than 5,000 fueling devices have been checked since this policy was instituted.

While these inspections have not discovered evidence of credit card skimmers, such devices were reported in Arizona and elsewhere in recent months. Many Arizona service stations have implemented their own security measures to protect their customers.

State law, specifically A.R.S. § 31-2110, makes it a Class 6 felony to possess a skimmer, or use such a device to steal someone’s credit card data.

Weights and Measures learned in late May, 2007, that a skimmer had been found on an Arizona motor fuel dispenser. The Department immediately took a number of steps to protect consumers:

• Kenneth H. Huffer, Special Agent In Charge for the Phoenix Office of the U.S. Secret Service, provided training on skimmer detection to Weights and Measures Investigators.

• A new procedure was added to routine inspections conducted in conjunction with inspections or re-inspections for volume, Stage II Vapor Recovery, Motor Fuel Quality, and Vapor Recovery Compliance.

• If evidence of illegal activity is found, Department Investigators will immediately notify police and the Phoenix Office of the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates allegations of identity theft.

• Department officials met with representatives of the petroleum and petroleum marketing industries to discuss ways to detect skimmers. These groups were urged to notify law enforcement immediately if their own inspections detect evidence of skimmers. In at least two cases, retailers found evidence of these devices and immediately passed on their information to police.

• The Department notified law enforcement agencies throughout the state about the skimmer issue.