CHARLESTON W.Va. (WSAZ) -- When it comes to being the victim of identity theft, many people say “I never thought it would happen to me.”

A recent investigation in Hurricane involving credit card fraud has helped teach about a tool identity thieves are using.

Many people make purchases with a quick swipe of a card, but now with a quick swipe on a skimmer, someone can also steal your personal information.

“A fraudster can keep one of these in their pocket or attach it to a coat for example, and at the point of sale as they take your card to swipe for merchant, they can do a single swipe on that,” Chris Hedges with the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office said.

Hedges said what is scary is for a couple hundred bucks people can buy skimmers on-line.

“That thing will pull every piece of data off your credit card and then they plug this into their computer and within a minute that can be emailed to someone else across the country to counterfeit a new card,” Hedges said.

They can hold thousands of credit card numbers and all the personal information that goes along with them.

“The magnetic strip on your credit card contains all that data you would provide a credit card company. It's up to the companies to safeguard their customers against wrongdoing,” Bill Carter with Advantage Technology in Charleston said.

Carter said it is their job to stay on top of the latest trends whether they are good or bad.

“We are aware of the bad so we can make our clients aware of what can happen to them in terms of security,” Carter said.

Whether you own a business or are just out enjoying an evening, this is one more thing to keep in mind.

“It's not something you want to alarm yourself with, but you want to make sure you’re cautious. If you suspect you’re being skimmed or if you notice something on your credit card that comes up, you want to notify the three major credit bureaus.

Knowing about skimming might just help keep you from getting scammed.