Rapid City Car Wash Equipment Company Warns of New Credit Card Threat

RAPID CITY, S.D. - April 8, 2013 - PRLog -- Rapid City, SD – Credit Cards at the car wash are a necessity payment method in today’s society, but one Rapid City car wash equipment company warns car wash owners to beware of thieves who are out to steel from their customers indirectly.

“As part of our due diligence to our car wash owners and customers, I recently contacted Rich Carpenter, Unitec’s Production Manager who shared what knowledge he had on skimmers. This is a highly important topic and one in which we hope to share with as many of our customers as possible,” said Terry Bosma, President of Pressure Services Inc., Rapid City, South Dakota.

According to Bosma, there are two general techniques of skimming used, external and internal.  An external skimmer fits over the card reader and records track data on cards inserted. This is a more common method of skimming used on ATMs when coupled with a surveillance camera to capture the user's PIN. The internal skimmer monitors the output of the card reader to record track data. This is a more common method used at gas pumps and typically is an 'inside job' (where a service tech or employee with an access key is involved).

“Key control is important for car wash owners to avoid this. Unitec for example, does not use common keys and keys cannot be ordered by a 3rd party which gives the owner full control over who opens the unit.  There are encrypted card readers on the market and these would resolve internal skimmers but would only be usable if the parties relying on the data (software and the credit processor) could understand and work with the encrypted data. It’s not a solution which can be installed without significant change and would only address internal skimmers,” added this Rapid City car wash equipment company owner.  

According to a recent news article a car wash in our area had over a dozen customers affected by a skimmer retrieving information from their entry controller. Credit card acceptance has become a standard form of payment in the car wash industry that car owners and businesses look for.  

Bosma added they an existing wash that added credit card acceptance and has reported up to 50% of their customers now use credit cards. With this percentage of users, Bosma explained it is now necessary to inspect credit card sliders, entire entry controller cabinet, self-serve faceplates, and self serve meter cases to insure nothing suspicious looking has been attached. If so, you should notify the authorities immediately.

About Pressure Services

Pressure Services, a Rapid City based company specializes is a leading supplier of car wash equipment, pressure washers, auto care and industrial chemicals. With in-house design capabilities, the team at Pressure Services offers customer service and experience that is unparalleled to helping you take your car wash from concept to completion. For more information visit, http://www.pressureservices.com