ROANOKE, Va. – Nearly a quarter of American drivers think their credit card information has been stolen at the pump.
CompareCards released its new survey Thursday that found 23% of American drivers suspect they’ve been a victim of card skimming at a gas pump in the past 12 months.
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That’s up from 15% just a year ago, and concerns over skimming are leading more and more people to change their payment habits at the pump.
So what exactly is card skimming?
Card skimming is the illegal copying of information from the magnetic strips found on credit and debit cards. A device unlawfully attached to a gas pump retains and stores the information from your card, which can be read and illegally used by the person who placed the skimmer.
Key findings from the survey:
- The percentage of drivers who said they suspect they were a victim of skimming in the past 12 months has risen to 23% in 2019 from 15% in 2018.
- 51% said they’ve changed the way they pay for gas because of skimming concerns. Last year, that was 38%.
- 37% of people said they’re more worried about skimming than they were just a year ago.
- The higher your income or the younger you are, the more likely you are to say you've been a victim.
To read the full report on card skimming, click here.