Consumers driving for the Fourth of July need to take care so their bank accounts don’t become holiday roadkill, the Electronics Payments Coalition is warning.

Thieves, said the coalition, are increasingly targeting gas station fuel pumps and non-bank ATMs, which are not required to upgrade to more secure debit and credit card chip readers until October of next year.

Another reason this fraud is attractive to crooks is that they can buy an easily hidden device to steal credit card and debit card numbers from fuel pump payment locations. These “skimmers” which cost less than $100 online, can be placed inside of the pumps.

The coalition said consumers should take the following precautions to lessen the risk of being victimized:

--They should pay inside at gas stations.

--They should use pumps easily seen by station attendants.

--They should monitor bank accounts.

--They should use gas stations with tamper-evident tape and locks on pumps.

--They should pay for their gas station purchases by using machines with chip readers, whether these are at the pumps or inside.