Submitted by Rex Brown on
April 1, 2017 (Tulsa, OK)— Fuel dispenser manufacturers announced today they now offer retail gas pumps with credit card skimmers pre-installed. Most gas pump makers are offering this new option nationwide to satisfy the growing use of the skimmers at gas stations.
Hugh Jass of the Covert Data Retrieval Association explained, "Retailers are seeking credit card skimmers with more consistant hardware specs, easier management, fewer sharp edges. As an example, the current connectivity procedures vary wildly– one may use Bluetooth technology where another is Wi-Fi. One customer in Illinois told me they still have skimmers in the field that require physical removal to rertreive the stolen data via USB."
Industry experts believe the decision last December to push back the EMV compliance deadline is fueling the surge in credit card skimmer requests. Most theives saw the future of credit card skimmers as bleak. The adoption of chip-card readers on fuel pumps would drastically reduce or eliminate the ability for skimmers to steal motorist's charge card data. But with the deadline for EMV compliance standards delayed to 2020, the market for skimmers received a much-needed boost.
Buyers opting for this feature hope to save time and labor costs associated with forecourt installations of credit card skimmers. Plus, the factory-certified skimmers offer retailers a standardized protocol, which means easier management for multiple locations, simplified field service and higher percentage of account data capture. Since the skimmer is already insalled there is no longer any need to counterfiet security decals or make clandestine copies of cabinet keys.
"We're excited about this new feature," Jass continued, "Now every pump at a facility will have a skimmer, instead of just one on a dark corner or those closest to the street. Sure, it's only a limited timeframe. But who knows... maybe they'll push back the deadline again?"
No one knows for sure if EMV will really happen in 2020. But one thing's certain, the skimmers plan to make the most of it.
