One Swipe Could Cost You $$$$$

COLORADO SPRINGS - You probably will use your credit or debit card today at a business you trust, but what about the employee swiping it? Colorado Springs Police detectives say credit card skimming is on the rise in southern Colorado and you could be the next victim and not know it until you get your bill.

Colorado Springs Police tell NEWSCHANNEL 13 that three people were just convicted for skimming. Mark Nielson, Cory Skinner and Amanda Stillwell were accused of taking credit card information and then using it for shopping sprees. The team of three spent thousands of dollars and their victims were left with high credit card bills.  

Detective Wayne Lambert showed NEWSCHANNEL 13 how easy it is for someone to steal the information from your credit or debit card and create a clone card. He purchased what is known as a credit card reader on-line and then attached it to his laptop. "As you can see from your Discover Card, there are two lines of information."

Lambert says the information contains your card number, expiration date and sometimes your pin number; all vital information for a merchant to charge your bank to get the money they are owed.

The problem is that criminals can also use that information to create another credit card. "It's is a simple as highlighting, copying and looking up the proper program and sliding a blank card."  All of this can take less than a minute to create a new card for a criminal to use at the store.

The reader can be purchased online and with the other equipment to make the card a criminal can be in business for less than $800.

It's not just at the store where you have to be vigilant, the ATM or vending machine that takes your card could also have a skimmer on it. "You can place this reader on any type of machine," says Lambert. "If you're not really attentive you may not realize what happened to you and you'll swipe your card and it will store the information."

Lambert says the machine will work like normal, but two skimmers, one for the machine and the other for the criminal will get your information. "Somebody whose place it there will come by later and take it off and then download the information."

He says if you are out to eat, talk with your server and try to get to know them. If you have information on them they may not feel comfortable stealing your information. When you're at an ATM, if you see someone hanging around, avoid the machine.