Here’s how to detect a credit card skimmer

hard skimmers have been found at stores all throughout the Commonwealth over the past few weeks and they could be taking your personal information 22 news reporter Alana flood is live in studio with what Shoppers need to know in order to protect themselves Nick and Sia these card skimmers steal the information from your credit or ATM card and recently they've been found at card readers and checkout lines throughout the state card skimmers were found at five Massachusetts grocery stores this month and these skimmers look similar to the regular credit card reader you'll find at the point of sale terminal and it usually fits right over it once a person swipes their card criminals are able to access that personal financial data West Springfield police say customers need to look carefully and make sure the card reader has not been tampered with um look to make sure there are no scratches anywhere around it um pull on it to make sure that there isn't like a face covering on top of it that they can pull off um we also asked them to make sure that there isn't additional equipment around it Sergeant Hannah added that if you are worried take money out at an ATM inside a bank because they are harder for criminals to access and the FBI has also recognized skimming as a growing problem an estimates that it costs financial institutions more than $1 billion a year working for you Alana flood 22 News