Credit card skimmers found at Florida gas stations after Hurricane Dorian

In a reminder that natural disasters often lead to crime in Florida, the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspectors found “skimmers,” used to steal credit-card or debit-card information at gas pumps, while checking gas stations for Hurricane Dorian damage.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said Friday water infiltrated underground fuel tanks at just two of the 250 gas stations along the East Coast that were most likely to be impacted by the state’s brush this week with the powerful storm. However, inspectors had to remove 15 skimmers from pumps during the inspections, the department said.

“While we’re confident consumers should feel safe fueling up post-storm, we encourage anyone suspecting issues to report them to us at 1-800-HELP-FLA or FloridaConsumerHelp.com,” Fried said in a prepared statement.

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This article appears in Sep 4-10, 2019.