Gas Station Card Skimming Suspect Arrested In Larkspur

LARKSPUR, CA — A man arrested Wednesday at a gas station in Larkspur was found with a "skimming" device used to capture people's credit card information, according to police.

In a news release Thursday, the Central Marin Police Authority said officers were dispatched to Marin Gas on Wednesday evening to investigate reports of suspicious activity at the gas station. Officers found a suspect at the station and quickly learned he was on active probation for separate theft cases out of Contra Costa County, police said.

While conducting a probationary search, officers said they found several preloaded cards, burglary tools, and a scanning device used to take information from cards with magnetic strips, along with four large containers filled with gasoline in the back of the suspect's pickup truck.

The officers took possession of the truck as evidence and booked the man into Marin County Jail on suspicion of grand theft, possession of burglary tools, and unlawful possession of a scanning device. Police officials said several cases involving the card scanners have been investigated around the region in recent months.

"Our jurisdiction, and the Bay Area in general, has dealt with gas station "skimming" — an illegal practice used by identity thieves to capture credit card information from a cardholder surreptitiously," the agency wrote Thursday. "Many of our citizens, as well a Central Marin Police Officer, have been victims of this crime in the last few months."