in this video they know to point their head lights at the security camera to avoid detection. how disturbing is it that this is happening so often? it s crazy. reporter: in texas, she lost nearly $3,000. it was a tremendous nightmare. it puts your life on hold. you can t pay bills. you can t buy groceries. reporter: last year the devices cost consumers $2 billion, and it s not just gas stations that are vulnerable. major retailers are also on alert. the problem is you have employees using low-level employees, maybe gang affiliated or being coerced by gangs, to bring these skimmers into places of employment. reporter: watch this video of a cashier swiping a credit card at the register. then police say, on a skimmer that s out of sight as she grabs a receipt. the technology is easily to apply and it s smaller than you would think. and you can find it right online. that s correct. reporter: to protect yourself, avoid gas pumps furthest from the attendant s view, pay in
couple eating dinner. according to investigators the driver had a seizure and accidentally hit the gas pedal. luckily no one sustained serious injuries. and in colorado, another car crashed into a warehouse, almost hitting an employee. the driver inadvertently stepped on the gas when trying to park. no one was injured. if you re traveling today, or even just running out for a minute, a word of warning when you re filling up on gas, scammers are out to get you. nbc s dave gutierrez has our report. reporter: in michigan, authorities on the hunt for a device secretly planted in gas pumps, stealing credit card information from thousands of consumers. how big of a problem is this? this is a huge problem. reporter: they re called skimmers. the criminals breaking into the pumps with master keys they buy online. look at this man secretly attaching a skimmer in less than a minute. your transaction goes through as normal, unfortunately at the same time it s actually capturing all of
according to investigators the driver had a seizure and accidentally hit the gas pedal. luckily no one sustained serious injuries. and in colorado, another car crashed into a warehouse, almost hitting an employee. the driver inadvertently stepped on the gas when trying to park. no one was injured. if you re traveling today, or even just running out for a minute, a word of warning when you re filling up on gas, scammers are out to get you. nbc s dave gutierrez has our report. reporter: in michigan, authorities on the hunt for a device secretly planted in gas pumps, stealing credit card information from thousands of consumers. how big of a problem is this? this is a huge problem. reporter: they re called skimmers. the criminals breaking into the pumps with master keys they buy online. look at this man secretly attaching a skimmer in less than a minute. your transaction goes through as normal, unfortunately at the same time it s actually capturing all of your credit card infor
detection. how disturbing is it that this is happening so often? it s crazy. reporter: in texas, she lost nearly $3,000. it was a tremendous nightmare. it puts your life on hold. you can t pay bills. you can t buy groceries. reporter: last year the devices cost consumers $2 billion, and it s not just gas stations that are vulnerable. major retailers are also on alert. the problem is you have employees using low-level employees, maybe gang affiliated or being coerced by gangs, to bring these skimmers into places of employment. reporter: watch this video of a cashier swiping a credit card at the register. then police say, on a skimmer that s out of sight as she grabs a receipt. the technology is easily to apply and it s smaller than you would think. and you can find it right online. that s correct. reporter: to protect yourself, avoid gas pumps furthest from the attendant s view, pay inside or use cash and monitor your bank account often. it s really blowing our min
these readers never store the credit card, but skimming, you guys, has become one of the most prevalent ways that credit cards are stolen. and this is just another way using this. yeah, but to steal your stuff. if you re a business and you know that you just bought that little square thing from the store, you put it on the top of your iphone, that s not a problem, is it? no. they re saying that those but what they re saying is if say i ve got a coffee shop and i m using one of the skimmers on my iphone or ipad, the little square thing, i m sorry, yeah, it can be skimmed by hackers, basically. if you re using it and you don t trust the place you re going like to a farmers market, these things are incredibly popular, like little farmers markets that pop up. and if you don t trust the vendor that s there selling you, you know, crocheted whatever, you know, you ve got to trust them. crocheted rhubarb. crocheted rhubarb. i have used it. well, they re everywhere.