TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam announced the filing of legislation intended to help protect Floridians and visitors from skimmers--devices that steal credit-card information at gasoline dispensers--and to provide better tools to combat fraud at gas stations.
The state Department of Agriculture has discovered and removed more than 150 skimmers at gas stations in Florida in the past year.
The number of consumers victimized by each skimmer varies between 100 and 5,000, with an average of $1,000 stolen from each victim, according to the state. Each skimmer represents a $100,000 to $5,000,000 threat to the state of Florida and its consumers, it said.
State Senator Anitere Flores (R) and State 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.
“We estimate that $1,000 is stolen from each victim of a skimmer, not to mention the immeasurable havoc that identity theft wreaks on people's lives,” said Putnam. “This legislation will help protect Floridians and their hard-earned money from skimmers at the pump, as well as increase penalties for the crooks perpetrating these crimes.”
“By increasing security measures at gas pumps and increasing the penalties for criminals who prey on innocent consumers, this legislation will help protect Floridians and visitors from thieves who use skimmers to steal from our citizens,” said Young.
In addition to routinely checking pumps for skimmers, the Agriculture Department worked to protect consumers by partnering with the Florida Petroleum Council and the Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association earlier this year on an initiative intended to educate the industry about ways they can help protect consumers from skimmers. The groups 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 to ensure consumers are being offered quality products at a fair measure.
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