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Card skimmers hit shoppers and merchants alike. This is the practical guide to protecting yourself with the free app — and protecting your business with always-on monitoring built on hardware you may already own.
SkimGuard detects skimmers that transmit a Bluetooth signal. A clear result is not a guarantee that a terminal is safe — it cannot detect a purely mechanical or non-transmitting skimmer. Always check the card reader physically as well.
The problem
A skimmer is a device a thief attaches to a payment terminal — a gas pump, an ATM, a checkout reader — to copy your card's magnetic stripe, usually alongside a pinhole camera or overlay keypad that grabs your PIN. Most modern skimmers broadcast the stolen data over Bluetooth so the criminal can harvest it from nearby without returning to the machine. Your card keeps working, so the theft is invisible until the fraudulent charges land. That Bluetooth signal is the thread SkimGuard pulls on — for shoppers and for the businesses that run the terminals.
For consumers
The free SkimGuard app scans nearby Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth Classic advertisements for known skimmer-hardware signatures and gives you one clear verdict — Good, Warning, or Alert — for wherever you're about to pay, with new wireless detection technologies added over time as the threat environment evolves. Anonymized results build a public community safety map, while your home scans stay private and are never published.
See the dedicated guides for gas station pumps, ATMs, and road trips.
For business
A skimmer on your reader is a liability and a reputation problem. SkimGuard for business comes in two service tiers, priced per location, so you can match coverage to your risk. A license is locked to one tier.
Staff scan payment terminals with the SkimGuard app on a point-in-time basis — a fast, human-initiated check as part of opening or closing routines. Ideal for smaller footprints and periodic verification.
Always-on monitoring that watches continuously instead of at intervals — via desktop agents running on lane computers and/or the Wi-Fi access points you already own passively scanning for skimmer signatures around the clock. The handheld app is included free. Everything rolls up into one dashboard, and a public “scanned recently” badge lets customers see the location is monitored.
The Automated tier integrates with Cisco Meraki, Juniper Mist, HPE Aruba, Ruckus, and Cisco Catalyst (via Cisco Spaces) — turning existing access points into skimmer sensors with no new hardware to install. See network skimmer detection and integrations.
Both tiers include a payment-terminal inspection logbook that helps you document and meet PCI DSS v4.0 Requirement 9.5 (POI-device inventory, tamper inspections, risk-based frequency and staff training) and keeps an immutable audit trail of those actions of the kind Requirements 10.2 and 10.3 expect — one-tap CSV/PDF export for your assessor. It helps you document and meet these controls; it is not itself a certification of PCI compliance.
Pick your side of the counter
Consumers get the app free forever. Businesses get point-in-time or always-on coverage across every location.