SAN ANTONIO – Credit card skimmers are a huge problem internationally and San Antonio is not immune.
Skimmers are devices that are illegally installed on ATMs, gas pumps and any other point-of-sale terminals to capture debit and credit card information and record PINs.
The FBI estimates skimming costs financial institutions and consumers more than $1 billion a year.
There are ways to avoid becoming a victim, but criminals continue to find sneaky ways to steal your credit card information.
We filed a public record request with the San Antonio Police Department asking where they found skimmers in San Antonio last year.
They provided a list of more than two dozen locations.
The list doesn’t include every skimmer found in the San Antonio area, only those found by SAPD. Hollywood Park police warned people after a new type of skimming device was found at a gas station in their jurisdiction.
The list doesn’t include skimming devices that were found by SAPD at a Quick Trip gas station in the 1800 block of North Foster Road on Nov. 16. Police arrested a suspect in that case in December — Alejandro Roman-Vivar. He is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a county source told KSAT on Wednesday. A warrant was issued for his re-arrest in the skimming case last week after the bail company holding his bond removed itself. It’s unclear why the location of the skimmers in that case was left off of the data provided by SAPD to KSAT.
Here’s a list of places where SAPD said they found skimmers in 2023:
- 7239 SW Loop 410 on Jan. 1
- 7003 US Highway 90 W. on Jan. 17
- 8648 Huebner Road on Feb. 6
- 6170 Interstate 10 E on March 17
- 11390 Interstate 35 S. on April 6
- 4703 W. Commerce Street on April 7
- 1560 Bandera Road on April 7
- 6170 Interstate 10 E. on April 24
- 1063 SE Military Drive on April 27
- 1719 SW Military Drive on May 1
- 4703 W. Commerce Street on May 15
- 9350 SE Loop 410 on June 1
- 403 Fair Ave on June 6
- 5619 Interstate 10 E. on July 21
- 14025 Nacogdoches Road on July 26
- 14025 Nacogdoches Road on Aug. 1
- 7050 Interstate 35 N. on Aug 18
- 7050 Interstate 35 N. on Aug 21
- 1414 W. Loop 1604 N. on Aug. 25
- 3150 SW Military Drive on Aug. 31
- 6170 Interstate 10 E. on Sept. 18
- 1842 N. Foster Road on Oct. 19
- 6170 N. Foster Road on Oct. 21
- 1112 Ackerman Road on Oct. 24
- 6170 Interstate 10 E. on Oct. 25
- 1842 N. Foster Road on Dec. 22
You can view these locations on a map below:
Related: How to tell if there is debit card skimmer on gas pumps, ATMs