SCAM ALERT

The Consumer Rescue team often receives pleas for help from readers who have been victimized by a scam. The articles here serve as cautionary tales to alert potential victims so that they can avoid falling victim to a similar scam.

Consumer alert, gas station card skimmers warning, don't use debit card at gas station.

How did a gas station skimmer drain my prepaid debit card balance?

by

Danger could be lurking at the pumps of your local gas station in the form of a tiny card skimmer. These small, almost invisible devices quickly retrieve and store all of your card’s information as you make your payment. Then the “owner” of this illegal apparatus uses that data to extract whatever funds he can from your account. 

Sylvia Powers wishes someone had warned her about gas station skimmers before she swiped her prepaid American Express Bluebird debit card at the pumps. Unfortunately, her education on the topic came in the most unpleasant way – after a skimming device drained all her money from her Bluebird card. But she assumed that American Express would protect her against this fraud.

She assumed wrong.

This consumer got caught in an online shopping scam.

How did I lose the credit card dispute after this online shopping scam?

by

Before you do any more online shopping, you’ll want to read about the scam that just ensnared Susan Leipholtz. She paid an online “merchant” $129 through PayPal and received absolutely nothing in return. But getting blindsided by the internet thief wasn’t nearly as shocking as what happened next. That’s when Capital One sided with the scammer in her credit card dispute.