Fresno thieves using stolen info from card skimming scam to buy postage stamps

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A card-skimming scam is tricking victims at gas pumps. And now police say the thieves are using stolen information to buy postage stamps.

According to Fresno Police, a Kwik Serve at Shaw and West Avenues and a Shell station near Figarden Drive and Bullard Avenue were card skimming targets. With that stolen data, thieves are creating fake credit and debit cards.

"They're using those cards at the u-s postal service post office and they're buying stamps. and even the detective is not sure why or what they're doing with those stamps," said Lieutenant Joe Gomez of the Fresno Police Department.

The FBI and the United States Postal Service are now involved -- making this a federal crime. Just last week, people on social media started claiming, those devices were at a gas station near Maroa and Shields Avenues. But detectives couldn't find anything and neither could gas station employees .

"Usually, if you go through it there is a loose wire or there is a loose wire. But (the technician) couldn't find anything in none of the pumps. So that's the surprising thing to us so we don't know what they're doing, what they're using," said Shell station manager Vik Vohra.

"Just because we didn't find them here when they came out and looked for them doesn't mean they weren't here at the time. so it could be connected to the other cases in Northwest Fresno," said Gomez.

Cindy Dudley at the Better Business Bureau said it's possible there are more victims affected by these crimes, who just haven't filed a police report. "Most of the time when people report the crime it's a larger amount so you know if it's twenty dollars worth of gas they might not feel like it's worth their time," she said.

To avoid becoming a victim, shake the machine to see if there's a skimmer attached on top. Get gas in a well-lit area close to the gas station. And investigators suggest using a credit card instead of a debit card, because of the possibility that you might not be able to recover the stolen cash.