EAST LONGMEADOW – How many times do you use your debit or credit card every day? During that quick stop for gas? When you pop into the market for groceries? How about lunch on the run, or a stop at the ATM for cash?

When you make that purchase, how often do you look – I mean really look – at the machine you’re sliding that card into?

If you’re like most people in a hurry, you don’t pay it much notice at all.  Thieves with skimming devices know that. In fact, they’re counting on your lack of attention.

That was the message Robin Putnam, research and special projects manager for the state’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Relations told the group who gathered at the Pleasant Valley Senior Center on April 7 for the latest Consumer University.

The presentation on skimming devices and other identity theft threats was one of three Putnam was making that day, and 20 she had hosted across Western Massachusetts that week.  

Her overall theme: be alert, be aware, and be suspicious if something doesn’t look right.

Unfortunately, Putnam said, skimming devices “are being found all over the place, they’re being found inside of banks, they are being found at ATMs, they’ve been found in coffee shops, in checkout lines, they’ve been found inside of gas pumps and on the exterior side.”

And the impact of these thefts can be significant.

“The rough economic loss for a person is roughly around $1,100 per skimming per person,” she said. “They can get all your cash or just a few dollars. You honestly never know.”

Putnam said that, as consumers, it isn’t a question of if we’re going to have a card compromised; it’s more a question of when. That means everyone needs to be vigilant when it comes to bank and credit card statements.

“You always need to be monitoring your accounts for anything fishy or a little odd,” she said. “A lot of scammers, once they steal your card aren’t going to go for a shopping spree of $10,000 because they know that isn’t going to fly under our radar … what our scammers are going to do, which is more lucrative for them, is scam 2,000 or 3,000 people for $2 or $3.

“They know that you aren’t going to care, and you’re not going to report it, and [you’ll probably think], maybe if it’s there next month I’ll deal with it,” she continued. “If you notice something that’s $2 or $3 and you know specifically its not something you would do, call your company – whether it’s your bank or your credit card company – because there’s a distinct possibility that that card might have been picked up.”

And that vigilance, she noted, really needs to start when you’re preparing to insert that credit or debit card into a bank ATM, or payment device at a retailer.

For instance, Putnam said to check the color and material of the card-scanning slot – is it the same as the rest of the machine? If there is more than one scanning device, does the card slot on one look like the others? Does it look as though it is bumped out more than the others?  Does the device look crooked, or are there glue marks around it?

If in doubt, she said to give the reader a quick tug to see if it is loose.

The same kind of vigilance holds for that keypad you use to punch in your pin or password, Putnam said. Does the color look off, or is it somehow different from others on nearby pumps or ATMs? A dead giveaway here, she added, is if the keyboard is loose or crooked.

“Take an extra minute and look at everything. Does it look legit? If not, call your local police department,” Putnam said.

And always “when you are putting your pin in anywhere, cover the keypad with your other hand,” to prevent scammers with pinhole cameras from getting all your info, she said.

Those pinhole cameras, she said, could be mounted inside the fake card reader or in fake panel, or even in an extra mirror, such as those placed inside ATM booths so you can see who is entering behind you.

After you’ve finished your transaction, Putnam said it’s also smart to punch all the keys on the keypad because thieves now can use “apps that are infrared [that] can read your [body] heat on the keys after you are done with a transaction.”

Skimming devices aren’t the only route to this kind of identity theft, either.

Savvy thieves, Putnam said,  “don’t even need a skimming device quite frankly. All you need is a smart phone with a camera,” and a moment to snap photos of the front and back of your card before running a transaction. She said this type of theft happened to her mother at a department store, right in front of her. A disgruntled employee used her card to purchase thousands of dollars of merchandise, and then quit. It took several months to clear up the fraud, she added.

Putnam said she now never lets her card out of her sight, even going so far as to walk her bill up to the cashier in a restaurant, rather than letting the server take it. “You just don’t know where there is a bad apple,” she said.

Another new threat, Putnam explained, are credit cards equipped with wireless transaction capability to be used with tap-to-pay devices. These cards have an antenna embedded in them, and a thief with a Bluetooth reader in his or her pocket can collect your information right through your wallet or purse.

You can identify these cards, Putnam said, by the  three-crescent Wi-Fi logo on the front. You can either call your company and request a card issued without wireless payment, or you should invest in a RFID sleeve for that card, to protect it from theft.

Putnam added that anyone who has renewed a U. S. passport since 2008 should be aware that the same wireless transmission technology is embedded in that identification, and should carry it in a RFID sleeve when travelling.

Though nothing can guarantee an individual won’t be a victim of skimming or identity theft, Putnam said “If you have the information [about how thieves are working], you will be smarter when you go to use your ATM or credit card. If you are monitoring all your information every month, and take an extra minute to make sure everything is legit” you are better protected.