MANOR, Texas - The Texas Department of Agriculture said investigators found a credit card skimmer in Williamson County because someone filed a complaint, a report that is critical for consumer protection.

Inspectors at the Texas Department of Agriculture spend hours on the road. Recently, a lot of their time is dedicated to credit card skimmers. 

"The majority of our complaints seemed to be up and down the I-35 corridor and I know over the past, during the summer especially we received a lot of complaints and our inspectors went out and found several skimmers. Now it seems to be a trend that there kind of moving out to more of a less populated areas a little less traffic," said Nathan Wilson, assistant regional director for regulatory programs at TDA.

House Bill 2174, which went into effect Sept. 1, limits how often the TDA can inspect and test gas pumps.

"We were doing them on a routine basis and a complaint basis to where we would go and do an inspection and have the pumps open to see if there was a skimmer device," Wilson said. 

Inspectors are urging consumers to report any incidents. Someone complained about fraudulent charges at a Round Rock gas station and an inspection uncovered a skimmer there. On Wednesday, TDA employees went to Manor to look into a similar report. There they inspected every pump. 

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"The ones that we like to be on the lookout for are the ones that are out of the way of any security cameras, out of the way of management," said Ronald Cash, a regulatory inspector.  

They'll turn on Bluetooth to detect devices, see if any seals are broken and check if the card readers are loose. Older fuel pumps are also more at risk.

"It has one key and when this key opens up the cabinet you have access to everything," Cash said. "So every time they open up and change the receipt paper they also have access to the back of the credit card reader." 

Inspectors ended up not finding anything out of the ordinary, but it doesn't mean there wasn't a skimmer there before. Consumers are encouraged to pay attention at the pump and to their credit card accounts afterwards.

"Anytime they buy fuel they really need to be monitoring their back accounts and credit card statements," Wilson said. 

At every fueling station is a consumer information sticker, which lets motorists know that the pump is registered with the TDA and it also has information about how to file reports. To make a complaint call: 1-800-TEll-TDA.