Mount Holly Police investigate potential credit card skimmer at a local gas station

Mount Holly Police are investigating a potential credit card skimmer at a local gas station after a Gaston resident lost more than $400 filling up her tank.

Gastonia resident Lizzy Brady said she was getting groceries in Belmont on the morning of July 19 when her card was declined.

She was taken aback by the lack of funds since she knew she had more than $400 in her bank account, but decided to use a different card and investigate the situation when she returned home, she said.

When Brady finally checked her account, she found that eight transactions of $55.66 had been taken out 9:36 p.m. July 17 by a BP gas station in Mount Holly with a Belmont address.

Brady said she had stopped at the gas station on Beatty Drive to fill up her tank, which she did on pump number seven, and grab something cold to drink on her way home from work that day.

When she reached out to her bank, a representative asked her whether the cost to fill her tank was $55.66 to determine whether there could have been a glitch in the system.

At that time, Brady realized the amount charged to her card several times was not the amount she had spent to fill her tank, which the representative said could be a sign of a credit card skimmer.

While Brady’s bank is working to restore the funds fraudulently taken from her account, Mount Holly Police officers are working to confirm whether this was caused by a skimmer.

Lieutenant Austin Cox said after receiving Brady’s police report, Officer Kyle Siek immediately went to the gas station to speak with the employees and search the pump for a skimmer.

There was nothing suspicious on the outside, so the officer requested assistance from the oil company in taking a look inside the pump to see whether a skimmer could have been placed inside.

Cox said the department hopes to have more information in the coming days.

For Brady, the incident was more than inconvenient.

“It’s scary because they’re so easily hidden, they’re invisible. You never know which one is going to be a skimmer or not,” she said. “So now I’m thinking, do I just need to carry cash around with me?”

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Mount Holly Police investigate potential credit card skimmer at a local gas station