HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Police in Huntersville are investigating a theft Friday at a gas station where the thief never went inside the business.
Someone broke into the pumps undetected and hooked up a credit-card skimmer.
Eyewitness News reporter Dave Faherty found out how the business discovered the problem and learned about the potential losses for customers at the Shell Food Mart on Gilead Road east of Interstate 77.
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Faherty was pumping gas at the gas station when officers arrived.
Police focused much of their attention on credit card reader on pump 4, Faherty said.
https://twitter.com/FahertyWSOC9/status/632264888363130881
"Never would cross your mind that someone could get inside that machine and do that," customer Donna Broadway said.
"I would be completely obviously very, very upset and mad, because you would be clueless that that could be a possibility," customer Mary Butzine said.
A worker doing maintenance on the pump noticed the skimmer once he got inside, employees said.
Police told Channel 9 the outside of the machine looked like any of the other ones at the business.
They don't know if the thief returned to download the credit card information by connecting the skimmer to a laptop.
For now, customers say they'll be checking their credit.
"It can be anywhere," Michael McCrum said. "You have to constantly check your credit. Check everything you have."
Police said they don't think the skimmer was inside the pump for more than a week because of the small battery used to run the device.
It has been removed, and all the other pumps were not compromised.
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