Another skimmer found at West Chester gas station

For the third time in less than two weeks, a credit card skimmer has been found inside a gas pump at a Butler County service station.

An inspector with the Butler County Auditor’s Office discovered an illegal skimmer today at the BP station at Union Centre Boulevard and Allen Road in West Chester Twp.

This is the seventh skimmer that’s been found in the county at six separate stations since November 2015. Four of the stations have been located in West Chester Twp, according to the auditor’s office.

Due to the high number of incidents, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds added three extra inspectors on Monday in an effort to spot check more stations and more fuel pumps. It was one of these additional inspectors who found the skimmer on Tuesday.

“We’re sending a message to these crooks that we’re serious about disrupting their criminal activity in Butler County,” Reynolds said in a statement.

When a credit card is run through a skimmer, the small device stores the cardholder’s data. Once the credit information is obtained, the thief can then sell the information or clone the credit card.

All the devices found so far in the county have been located inside fuel pumps.

There have been recent finds in Hamilton County and northern Kentucky stores where skimmers were placed behind false fronts at self-checkout lanes to steal card data.

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