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Caught on camera: Scammers install skimmers at gas pump

Posted at 11:05 PM, Dec 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-04 23:05:06-05

Two men were caught on surveillance video installing a card skimmer inside a gas pump.

This happened at a Mobil gas station in Long Boat Key, but investigators believe the men in the video travel from the Tampa Bay area down to southwest Florida scamming people out of their money.

Cindy Dearth, the manager at the gas station, said she checks the seals on the pumps every morning to make sure they aren't tampered with. When she noticed one appeared to have been touched, she checked surveillance video. She saw two men pull up to a pump in a newer model lexus, get out a drill and get to work.

"I saw them open the door, put the skimmer in, put the tape back on, took them two men," Dearth said.

Investigators recently found a skimmer on a pump at the Mobil station on Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte.

Three more skimmers were found at another Mobil station on Pine Island Road in Cape Coral.

Two skimmers were also found at Mobil stations in South Fort Myers and Naples within the last month.

Investigators say because of the clerk's quick action at the station in Long Boat Key, no one was scammed at that station.

The crooks seen in the video are still on the run.

Investigators say to make sure the red seal on the pump doesn't appear to be tampered with, and if it does, to tell the clerk immediately. They also recommend paying with cash or a credit card.