The number of credit card skimmers discovered at gas station pumps around the state is still rising. The state has found 61 skimmer devices this year, almost half in the last month alone.

"When we identify a skimmer we check in the general geographical area, because sometimes we find that they get installed and then maybe they drive a couple miles down the road and install one at another gas station. So we’ve seen them in little clusters," said Michelle Wilson, associate director for the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures.

Gas stations across the country have until October 2017 to install chip readers on pumps. Wilson suspects the people installing skimmers are trying to siphon as many credit card numbers as possible before that switch-over. For right now, the security measures at stations vary.

"Various locks on the inside of the dispensers, or systems that’ll actually shut the dispensers down if they’re opened, or credit card information might be encrypted, so there’s a wide variety of measures that different retailers put in place," Wilson said.

Brian Krebs, an independent investigative reporter who writes about cybercrime, said for many years, criminals had a reliable way to access gas pumps and install skimmers.

"One of the dirty secrets in the filling station industry is for many years, until very recently, you could have three or four different master keys that could open up the pumps in  America," said 

 Map Of Gas Pump Skimmers Found In Arizona In 2016

(Map created by Sky Schaudt - KJZZ)