Between May 1 and June 30 unknown suspect(s) placed “skimmers” on credit card readers on the gas pumps at Valero Gas Stations in Fillmore and elsewhere. The information gathered is used for fraudulent purposes.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Department’s Ojai Station Detectives are investigating the use of fraudulent credit cards. Between May 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009, unknown suspect(s) placed “skimmers” on credit card readers on the gas pumps at Valero Gas Stations in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

Criminals have been attaching “skimmers” to obtain account information and create fraudulent cards with the stolen account numbers. The “skimmer” reads all of the account information encoded on the card’s magnetic data storage stripe when swiped through the reader. In this case, the fraudulent credit cards are being used in Los Angeles County and other outlying areas of California and Nevada.

Valero Gas Stations are taking a proactive approach to combating the thefts by conducting visual checks of all the gas pumps throughout the day. When using your credit card at any card reader, look to make sure there is nothing else attached to the reader.

If you believe you might be a victim of identity theft by someone using your credit card, please contact your local law enforcement agency.