HONDO, Texas — Highway 90 is a buzzing thoroughfare, especially for holiday travel.
A popular pit stop along the way for food and gas is the City of Hondo.
As many returned home from vacation this week, Hondo Police honed in on local gas stations.
They were on the hunt for credit card skimmers, hidden devices on gas pumps that steal your personal information.
Hondo Police showed KENS 5 how one device in their department can help prevent fraud in seconds.
While efforts are happening more frequently now in Hondo due to excess travel, Lieutenant Aaron Garza says checking for skimmers is routine.
Detectives will move from gas station to gas station in search of a red light on their 'Skim Reaper', a small device that detects when a scammer is trying to steal your information. The Skim Reaper has a card that officers can swipe in the machines to detect any foreign device.
"You want a solid blue light. That means it didn't detect any skimmer," Garza explained. "When it's red, that means there's a possible skimmer in the machine."
The Skim Reaper can detect a skimmer in seconds.
A couple of years ago, Garza said Hondo was getting hit by card skimmers a couple of times a month. In 2023, the department reported zero cases of skimmers being found.
In Devine, 20 minutes southeast of Hondo, Garza said law enforcement called asking Hondo to borrow their Skim Reaper.
"They did report a skimmer that they had located here recently within the past month," Garza explained. "If they're in Devine, Devine is just down the road, then they might be coming this way."
The credit scoring service FICO says in 2022, there was a 759% year-over-year increase in card skimming across the country -- with gas station pumps as a prime target.
Although the majority of us don't have access to a Skim Reaper, there are other tools we can use to detect these illegal devices.
iPhone users can use the app Card Skimmer Locator. Once the app is open, hold it near a gas pump to see if it senses Bluetooth. If a device with random numbers or letters pops up on your Bluetooth list, it could be a skimmer.
The same can be done for Android users with the Skim Plus app.
Aside from the phone applications, Hondo Police advise:
- Using a pump closest to the store. Usually thieves will place a skimmer far away to avoid being caught by employees
- Look for any tampering on the card reader like loose parts and torn safety tape
- Use 'Tap to Pay'
- Choose the credit card option, that way you'll avoid entering your PIN
- While at the pump, check your Bluetooth on your phone. If an unfamiliar device pops up with a bunch of jumbled numbers or letters, that could indicate there's a skimmer nearby
Hondo Police received the Skim Reaper in 2019 after completing a two-hour training course with the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG).