The Phillips 66 Fraud Department has seen a distinctive increase in crime in the midwestern United States. Recent reporting and fraud statistics show a shift from a large proportion of the total fraud occurring on the West Coast to a sharp increase in Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. We’d like to remind all sites to remain up-to-date and vigilant with fraud prevention measures.
THE BIG 3
Please continue to adhere to the proven Big 3 recommendations for fuel dispenser security.
- Conduct daily inspections of your fuel dispensers and inside POS terminals for possible skimmer compromises.
- Ensure that you have upgraded locks on your dispensers and not just the standard issued locks. CompX Security Company can be reached at (846)297-6655.
- Continue to use security labels on the dispenser cabinet doors and consider using them on the bottom of the Pin Pad Reader and Credit Card readers. You can purchase security labels from Nova Vision at (888) 416-0443.
EMV
Sites that do not have EMV installed and activated on the fueling dispensers are more susceptible to fraud and related chargebacks. Sites should also ensure their EPOS software is current. Acceptable software versions are available for reference through the Phillips 66 Gateway (link). Operating with outdated software increases a sites’ overall fraud and liability risk.
FUEL THEFT
Diesel fuel theft remains a problem across the country. Fuel is being stolen by criminals using fraudulently obtained credit card accounts and stealing fuel at the dispensers using bladder trucks and fraudulent cards. The criminals are also breaking into dispensers and tampering with the pulsar gear. Low dollar amount transactions and fuel loss is an indication the pulsar has been manipulated. Educate your employees to be suspicious of any vehicles that are at your fuel dispensers for a period longer than it takes for a standard fill up.
Employees should report any suspicious observations to management, your local law enforcement agency and/or to the Phillips 66 Fraud Department. Visually monitor trucks, cargo vans or other suspicious vehicles that are at the diesel dispensers farthest away from the cashier’s view. Watch for trucks at the diesel dispensers that:
- do not have license plates attached.
- have both doors open on the driver’s side while fueling to conceal the driver from security cameras.
- drivers that are using more than one credit card to activate the fuel dispensers’ multiple times.
- drivers that are wearing excess clothing such as hats, sunglasses, hoodies, face masks to avoid detection from the security cameras.
Protect the pulsar gear inside of your fuel dispensers. Criminals can steal fuel by breaking into the fuel dispenser cabinet and tampering with and/or changing out the pulsar gear with their own device. This allows criminals to steal large amounts of diesel fuel. To protect your pulsar gears the Phillips 66 Fraud Department recommends:
- installing encrypted pulsar gears.
- installing audible alarms on the dispensers.
- ensuring you have upgraded locks on your fuel dispenser doors.
- considering after-market protective devices that assist in encasing the pulsar gears in a protective housing.
- continue using the Big 3 daily inspections, upgraded locks and the use of security labels.
MANUAL ENTRIES
The Phillips 66 Fraud Department highly discourages the acceptance of manually entered card numbers at POS terminals. Cards that cannot be chip read or mag stripe read are likely to result in fraud. Manual entry chargebacks have no recourse. The card brands automatically charge those back when disputes occur. The manual entry function can be disabled within the point of sale. Contact your vendor to assist with disabling that function.
FUEL DISPENSER SKIMMERS
The installation of credit card skimmers is still a criminal tactic. EMV-upgraded dispensers are also susceptible to overlay skimmers that are placed on top of the Pin Pads and credit card readers. The Pin Pad overlay skimmers are easier to detect as they sit up approximately 1/8th of an inch higher than the standard Pin Pad when placed on top. During an inspection, if the Pin Pad appears slightly elevated, then you may have a Pin Pad overlay skimmer. A credit card overlay skimmer is harder to identify. However, if a Pin Pad overlay is present, there will also be a credit card reader overlay skimmer.
The application of security labels on the bottom of the Pin Pad and partially over the top of the credit card reader as displayed in the photo below can assist in the prevention and detection of overlay skimmers.
CONTACTLESS SCREEN VANDALISM
Criminals are now using a new tactic to skim credit cards. They are drilling a fine hole on the Contactless Screen which stops the Contactless screen from functioning. This forces the consumer to have to insert their credit card and punch in their zip code of which both get skimmed. See the photos below and note the hole drilled into the screen face. If this is observed, then inspect for both Pin Pad and Credit Card reader overlay skimmers.
Please continue to make fraud prevention a daily priority to protect your valuable business. If you ever have a question or are unsure of anything related to fraud, please contact the Phillips 66 Fraud Department at phone number (888) 482-1838 for assistance.
