{"id":823337,"date":"2026-05-26T13:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/823337\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:33:19","slug":"houston-shopper-finds-credit-card-skimmer-on-checkout-machine-at-southwest-grocery-store-police-called","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/823337\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston shopper finds credit card skimmer on checkout machine at southwest grocery store, police called"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWhen I went to go swipe my food stamp card, something snugged my food stamp card,\u201d Dansby said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I found out it was a skimmer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Dansby said she pulled on the device and it came off the machine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really that hard,\u201d she said. \u201cI kind of pulled down and then it popped off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to Dansby, the store was busy at the time with shoppers preparing for the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThis is real,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of people come to this location, and they were especially really busy yesterday, people trying to get their food for the holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Dansby said she alerted store employees and later posted photos of the device on Nextdoor before contacting Houston police the next day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Houston police were dispatched to the store Sunday, according to the call log.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Dansby said she checked her account after discovering the device and planned to lock her card.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI was shocked,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this, especially at a grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">If you think you\u2019ve found a skimmer, call police immediately. You can also file a report with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tdlr.texas.gov\/skimmers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tdlr.texas.gov\/skimmers\">on their website<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A Houston woman says she discovered a credit card skimmer attached to a checkout machine at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":823338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4219,168806,6972,4345,728,338392,338390,338393,6974,338391,358,3187],"class_list":["post-823337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-crime","tag-ebt","tag-food-stamps","tag-houston","tag-local-news","tag-lone-star-card","tag-pyburns-grocery-store","tag-skimmer","tag-snap","tag-snap-skimming","tag-texas","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116641137602145901","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}