Watch Thieves Install Fake Card Scanner in Seconds

Police are looking for two men spotted installing a credit card skimmer on a point-of-sale system at a Miami Beach gas station on Wednesday. As a Digg post observes, the ease of the whole operation is "frankly terrifying." A surveillance video shows two men approach the counter of a Chevron around 9:30pm, reports CBS Miami. While one man asks the attendant to grab some items from behind the counter, a second man pulls a device from his bag and places it over the station's payment terminal. He backs away as another customer approaches, then adjusts the device. The entire installation took less than three seconds. The pair then left the store.

Only when the skimmer came loose the next day did a gas station employee realize what had happened and call police. As the men weren't able to return to collect the device—which nabs debit or credit card information when a card is swiped—customers are in luck. But similar devices may go undiscovered at similar high-traffic areas. Your safest bet is to use ATMs inside a bank, though credit cards are safer than debit cards elsewhere since they have better fraud protections, advises Credit.com. (You might want to consider freezing your credit reports, too.)