A recent survey by CompareCards has revealed that 15% of cardholders were affected by card skimming at gas stations in the US.
During the survey of 1,000 cardholders, 43% of respondents admitted to have changed their preferred payment method while filling gas because of the threat of skimming.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Card skimming involves fraud of stealing data via bogus card readers attached to payment terminals. These fake readers take data from a credit or debit card magnetic stripe without customer’s knowledge.
CompareCards credit card analyst Matt Schulz said: “One huge driver of this [phenomenon] is the fact that gas station pumps don’t need to be converted to accept EMV cards until October 2020. That makes those pumps low-hanging fruit for fraudsters.”
The survey found millennials to be the top target of card skimming, where 21% said to have been skimmed at gas pumps.
Furthermore, 15% of Gen Xers and 8% of boomers revealed being victims of credit or debit card fraud at gas stations.
Also, millennials were found to be the most likely to have changed their gas-paying habits. Compared to men (43%), women were slightly more likely to have changed (48%) their choice of payment.
Due to risk of card skimming, 20% of the respondents said they have changed their habit and now prefer paying inside the gas stations.
