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MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — The Bradenton Police Department is ramping up its efforts to stop scamming in the area, specifically credit and debit card scammers.
Recently, the department received a grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to buy new credit card skimming detection devices.
What You Need To Know
- The Bradenton Police Department is ramping up its efforts to stop scamming in the area, specifically credit and debit card scammers
- Recently, the department received a grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to buy new credit card skimming detection devices
- They also suggest that you regularly check your bank statements and register for alerts from your financial institutions to quickly detect and report fraud
Bradenton Police Detective Michael Carpenter is tracking down credit card skimmers using new credit card skimming detection devices they received, thanks to a grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
“You insert it with a credit card, go. As soon as you get a green light, there’s no skimming device detected. If you had a red light, a skimming device detected, we would continue our investigation,” Carpenter said.
He said criminals install skimming devices on ATMs, gas pumps, and other payment systems to steal people’s credit and debit card information.
Carpenter says they investigate a lot of credit card fraud.
“So far, we’ve done probably 50 different gas stations, ATMs, et cetera. We found one on the first day. We aren’t able to determine if it had information on it, what information it had on it, or who put it there. But we were able to deter anybody else from becoming a victim,” he said.
He says solving this type of crime can be challenging.
“We notify the business, but we can’t determine who put it there until we get fingerprints and DNA from the inside of the device,” he said.
BPD said detectives go out periodically to check payment systems.
All officers will have access to these devices and will use them if they notice anything suspicious.
“It gives people peace of mind that the devices they’re using are safer devices,” he said.
It’s another way for the police department to detect scamming and protect residents from a financial crime.
The Bradenton Police Department says to avoid becoming a victim, use payment tools like Apple Pay or Google Pay, which encrypt payment data.
They also suggest checking your bank statements regularly and registering for alerts from your financial institutions so fraud can be detected and reported quickly.
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Julia Hazel
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