TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam highlighted legislation intended to better protect consumers from financial crimes occurring at the gas pump as he announced that six card skimmers have been found at gas stations since November in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
The Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services has found a total of 166 devices statewide since March 2015.
The number of consumers victimized by each skimmer varies between 100 and 5,000, with an average of $1,000 stolen from each victim, said Putnam, and each skimmer represents a $100,000 to $5,000,000 threat to the state of Florida and its consumers.
Putnam was joined today by state House Majority Leader Dana Young, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri on behalf of the Florida Sheriffs Association, Winter Park Police Chief Brett Railey on behalf of the Florida Police Chiefs Association and executive director of the Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association (FPMA) Ned Bowman.
“It takes an all-hands-on-deck approach to protect consumers from financial crimes occurring at gas pumps in Florida, and we have strong partners in this fight,” Putnam said. “I thank House Majority Leader Dana Young, Sheriff Gualtieri, Chief Railey, and Ned Bowman for their support of this key legislation.”
"I'm excited and honored to work with Commissioner Putnam on this legislation to protect consumers in our state from credit card fraud and identity theft. As we move forward, I will continue fighting alongside law enforcement and Commissioner Putnam to find new ways to put these crooks out of business once and for all,” said Young.
“FPMA is proud to support legislation filed by Representative Dana Young and Senator Anitere Flores that will protect hardworking Florida consumers and c-store owners from being victims of credit-card skimming and fraud,” said Bowman. “We also look forward to continuing to work closely with Commissioner Adam Putnam, who is a tremendous partner and advocate in taking proactive steps to bring increased safety and awareness to this important issue.”
Senator Anitere Flores (R) and Representative Dana Young (R) are sponsoring legislation in the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives, respectively. The proposed legislation protects consumers from identity theft at gas station pumps by:
- Requiring self-service fuel dispensers to use certain security measures to prevent theft of consumer financial information.
- Increasing enforcement authority against those who possess or traffic fraudulent credit cards.
- Reclassifying the crime of unlawful conveyance of fuel, which increases the maximum sentence.
- Increasing the offense level of the crime; which affects the sentencing guidelines.
In addition to routinely checking pumps for skimmers, the department has worked to protect consumers by partnering with the Florida Petroleum Council and the FPMA earlier this year on an initiative intended to educate the industry about ways they can help protect consumers from skimmers. The council and association have distributed a one-page informational sheet to their members with helpful information, such as “what to know,” “how to help,” and “who to call,” in order to engage gas station employees in this consumer protection initiative.
The department regularly inspects Florida's nearly 8,000 gas stations and analyzes samples of petroleum products.
Earlier this month, Putnam announced that the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement arrested a man in Tampa, Fla., suspected of illegally obtaining fuel, filling what is known as a “bladder truck” using stolen financial information. Investigators with the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services arrested Juan A. Bermudez, 45, on Dec. 4 for one count of unlawful conveyance of fuel. Investigators also recovered two counterfeit and re-encoded credit cards.
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