Kyle Police Department talks credit card fraud prevention tips

KYLE — The Kyle Police Department is urging residents to be cognizant of potential credit card fraud in the new year.

Credit card fraud, according to KPD public information and community engagement specialist Ashlee Bradshaw, is the illegal or inappropriate misuse of credit cards that don’t belong to someone.

This can occur in several settings — losing a wallet or  theft — but the most prominent are through online scams and credit card skimmers.

Typically, online scams occur when an individual enters credit card information on an unsecured site. To prevent this, community members should only make purchases online through websites beginning with “https://,” said Bradshaw, and have a padlock symbol during checkout.

Regarding day to day transactions, credit card skimmers are a machine to lookout on during gas station stops, Bradshaw continued.

“A credit card skimmer is essentially an illegal device that is designed to capture credit card information, typically found on either the outside of a gas station pump — that is where it’s happened, at least for [KPD], most commonly — or it can actually be something that is inside the pump as people go and swipe [their card],” she said.

Residents can attempt to protect themselves from these machines by observing gas station pumps for misaligned or uneven credit card readers or broken seals and stickers along the pumps. Additionally, community members can opt to pay inside the physical store, rather than at the pumps, for added security.

“Especially when referring to the credit card skimming at gas stations, we would encourage people to either use their chip or tap-to-pay because — as far as the reports that we have received — it’s been swiping [cards that have been linked to fraud],” said the specialist.

If an individual believes that there may be a skimming device on a gas pump, Bradshaw urges them to call KPD immediately. For those that believe they have been a victim of credit card fraud, contact law enforcement to begin an investigation.

KPD encourages residents to regularly monitor their financial institutions for suspicious activity and to use secure payment methods, such as PayPal, credit cards or mobile payment apps that offer fraud protection.

For more information on crime safety tips, visit bit.ly/4sHyZTM.