Police in Orlando suggest that if you bought gasoline with a credit card in Orlando within the past couple of years, you may want to check your credit card statement closely or call your credit card issuer to make sure you were not a victim of fraud.

They recently busted a major credit card theft ring that most likely affected at least 35,000 unsuspecting cardholders. The way the scheme worked was that the gang of about a dozen thieves installed thin credit card readers or skimmers into the scanning slot of gas pumps. When people inserted their plastic to pay for gas, the skimming device stored their confidential credit card data. Later the surreptitious card readers were retrieved.

Bogus cards were made using the stolen numbers, and the gang of thieves used those fake cards to make purchases of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel that they transported in stolen trucks. The trucks had been customized so that although they looked ordinary they were capable of carrying very large amounts of fuel. They then sold the ill-gotten diesel fuel on the black market, and that is how they eventually converted the stolen credit cards into hard cash. Detectives believe that they made about $10,000 a day selling fuel, and that they also stole more than $1 million worth of vehicles while making at least $2 million in fraudulent charges over a two year period.

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