WOODSTOCK, Ga. – A little vigilance goes a long way. Customers at a PJ’s store and Chevron gasoline station in Woodstock, Ga., avoided having their credit or debit card info stolen when the manager foiled the installation of a skimming device, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Pragnesh Patel told a local news station that two men drove up to the station in an SUV last weekend with the intent to commit a crime. “One of them came into distract me and the other successfully put the skimming device inside [the gas pump],” he said. That’s a typical modes operandi of thieves bent on inserting skimmers into pumps.

However, because the station had taken precautions by having alarms in place to alert store personnel of any unwarranted activity, Patel knew nearly at once that someone had disconnected a wire inside the pump to attach a device. He immediately checked the pump, saw the skimmer and contacted the local authorities.

In his interview with the television station, Patel said the criminals must have been successful, given the expensive vehicle they drove to his station. “You can see what kind of car they’re driving—he was driving a Range Rover—so he was making money somewhere,” Patel said.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department recommended drivers check gasoline pumps to ensure the security seal is in place and unbroken. Read “Secure Your Pump” from the May NACS Magazine for more on combating skimming. And visit the NACS Skimming and Payments Security webpage for resources on how to prevent and mitigate skimming attacks.