Four credit card skimmers were found inside gas pumps at the 7-Eleven in Gateway all on the same day.
If you live, work or play in Gateway, the 7-Eleven at 12011 Gateway Boulevard is the most convenient to visit. The next closest one is three miles away.
Four gas pumps out of the ten were tampered with, meaning if you pumped gas here, you had a 40% chance of getting skimmed.
According to the report from Lee County Sheriff’s Office, an employee from Guardian Fueling Technologies went to follow up on a repair on May 18 and discovered pumps two, four, nine and ten all had credit card skimmers inside.
A 7-Eleven employee told Lee County Sheriff’s Office that customers were complaining May 16 or 17 that pump ten was malfunctioning. That’s why the fueling company employee came out to check it out in the first place.
There is no county-wide skimming ordinance in Lee County. Other places like Cape Coral have a law where every gas station must have a unique pump lock and key.
Lee County Commission is hoping to discuss putting a gas pump skimming ordinance in place on Tuesday.
An economic crimes detective is taking over and investigating. The skimmers were submitted into evidence at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The solution for this problem once and for all: Require chip card technology at all gas pumps! Like all other merchants did have to comply to the “EMV liability” by 2017, the gas pump industry has argued with their “complicated and expensive” conversion of gas pumps and got an extension for the requirement of chip card readers until to 10/1/2020. So, it’s a problem that could be resolved today!
Harry Kloppert