Make sure your credit card is never skimmed at the gas pump — keep your money safe with this simple hack

Don’t skim over this information.

A safety savvy content creator has revealed how to check for credit card skimmers at gas stations — reminding viewers to remain vigilant. The common scam costs both customers and banking institutions more than $1 billion per year, according to FBI estimates.

The TikTok tipmeister, who goes by FLM Flight, posted a video showing him pulling on the card-reading apparatus of a gas pump — an easy way to tell if the equipment has been tampered with, he said.

“POV: You checking the card reader to make sure you don’t get scammed,” he captioned the clip, which has already scored over 618,000 views on the popular social media app.

Some users shared their approval, saying they have performed the same trick to double-check card readers at gas stations, as the number of compromised debit cards soared 96% from 2022 to 2023, per FICO data.

Criminals steal credit card information by installing fraudulent card readers — known as skimmers — at places like bank ATMs or gas station pumps to siphon off funds from unsuspecting fraud victims.

According to Experian, gas stations are most vulnerable for malicious tampering, since there is often not an attendant keeping watch over the pumps.

For this reason, the FBI recommends choosing a pump that is closest to the gas station’s door that employees can keep in view, as well as using tap to pay when available or paying inside with the attendant.

Altered card readers that have been replaced with skimming devices may have visual inconsistencies, and the government agency advises customers to closely inspect the card reader for any oddities, such as a keypad with odd coloring, materials and shapes, or a reader that is loose.

In addition to skimmers, which steal credit card numbers, there may be a secret camera hidden out of sight to record unsuspecting customers while entering their PIN, and a keypad overlay may be placed over the correctly installed keypad that records whatever PIN users punch in.

Experts consider contactless payment methods with a credit card in a digital wallet as the safest course of action when paying at a card reader, as tap-to-pay methods are notoriously more difficult to skim than physical credit card insertions or swipes.