HOUSTON – A Houston woman says she discovered a credit card skimmer attached to a checkout machine at a southwest Houston grocery store while trying to pay for groceries with her EBT card ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
Savannah Dansby said she was shopping Sunday night at Pyburns, located at 12675 Fondren Road near Fonmeadow Boulevard, when something felt unusual as she swiped her card.
“When I went to go swipe my food stamp card, something snugged my food stamp card,” Dansby said. “That’s when I found out it was a skimmer.”
Dansby said she pulled on the device and it came off the machine.
“It wasn’t really that hard,” she said. “I kind of pulled down and then it popped off.”
According to Dansby, the store was busy at the time with shoppers preparing for the holiday weekend.
“This is real,” she said. “A lot of people come to this location, and they were especially really busy yesterday, people trying to get their food for the holidays.”
Dansby said she alerted store employees and later posted photos of the device on Nextdoor before contacting Houston police the next day.
During a 911 call, Dansby told dispatchers she believed the device was attached to a payment terminal inside the grocery store and said she had already notified a manager.
Houston police were dispatched to the store Sunday, according to the call log.
Credit card skimmers are devices designed to fit over legitimate payment terminals and capture card information from unsuspecting customers. While skimmers are commonly associated with gas pumps, authorities say they can also be installed on grocery store checkout machines and ATMs.
Last week, the U.S. Secret Service announced investigators found more than a dozen skimmers across the Houston area during a large scale operation targeting card fraud devices.
Experts recommend customers inspect payment terminals before using them by checking for loose parts, unusual attachments or anything that appears tampered with. Customers who suspect a skimmer is attached to a machine are advised not to use the terminal and to contact law enforcement immediately.
Dansby said she checked her account after discovering the device and planned to lock her card.
“I was shocked,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this, especially at a grocery store.”
If you think you’ve found a skimmer, call police immediately. You can also file a report with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on their website.