Earlier this year, credit-card skimmers repeatedly targeted a particular gas station in Carrboro. But police say that station has now taken steps to prevent it from happening again.

The station is the Circle K, located around Carrboro Plaza at 102 NC 54. Between March and June, police located credit card skimmers at their gas pumps on three separate occasions – enough to warn residents to start paying inside if they purchased gas there.

But Carrboro Police released an update this week, saying the Circle K has upgraded all their pumps with enhanced security features to prevent tampering. (The pumps are also now EMV chip compliant, another added safety feature.)

Carrboro Police are still warning residents to inspect gas pumps for intact security measures – at all gas stations, not just that one. (Give the card reader a tug before you insert your card; if anything feels loose, that’s a bad sign.) If you’re at all suspicious, don’t use the card reader at the pump – just pay inside.

Visit this page for more information on how to spot an ATM or credit-card skimmer.

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In Hillsborough, a routine traffic stop led to a significant drug arrest on Friday.

At about 11:30 a.m., police pulled over a vehicle on South Churton Street near I-85 for driving a car without working brake lights – but officers began to smell marijuana as they approached the car. A subsequent search yielded 11 grams of marijuana – but also nine grams of cocaine, a variety of opioids, a loaded .357 handgun, and scales.

Police arrested the driver, 39-year-old Randy Fields of Durham. He’s being held in the Orange Correctional Center on a $7500 bond, facing charges of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana and cocaine.