PHOENIX – Skimmers have come to Arizona, the Arizona Republic reports. During the last six months, the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures have reported at least 30 cases of illegal credit-card readers found attached to legitimate card readers at gasoline pumps across the state.

It appears that the skimmer activity has popped up spontaneously during the past 12 months, but not in a concentrated effort or area, with the skimmers moving in and out of the locations fast. In July, Gov. Jan Brewer asked the department to raise awareness of skimming with training and more inspections to catch the illegal devices.

This month, state inspectors will up their examinations of fuel pumps, have extra training sessions for officers on technology used to catch skimmers and work with the petroleum industry on finding and preventing skimming, said Shawn Marquez, director of compliance programs for the state agency.

Sometimes, skimmers are used in other industries, too, such as in restaurants, said Jeno Erdelyi, who works in the restaurant industry. Waiters can hide skimmers in their wallets or belts to swipe cards undetected.

With most gasoline purchases made with credit or debit cards, skimmers can capture a lot of numbers in a short span of time. Gouinda Das, who works at the Phoenix Shell, said only around 30 to 40 customers pay with cash daily.