Click here to watch KMOV-TV coverage

(KMOV) -- Both the FBI and postal inspectors are warning anyone who uses a credit card or debit card about an increasingly popular scam called “skimming.”

(KMOV)

Skimmer device

The device crooks are using is smaller than your hand, fits easily in a pocket, hooks up to a palm pilot and can record your personal information.

Postal inspector Dan Taylor has been investigating skimming, just another way thieves are stealing identities.

It happens when you go out to eat, for example.

After your meal, when it’s time to pay the bill, if you give the server your credit card, they have time to run it through the credit card machine and the skimmer in their pocket.

The thieves can then download the information and either make a counterfeit card for themselves or find use for it on the Internet.

Each skimmer device can hold information from several credits at once.

It takes a couple of weeks, perhaps longer, before someone finds out skimming has affected them.

To protect yourself, be sure to check credit card statements, protect your PIN number, review your credit report annually and watch your credit card.

Each month, check your credit card statement and be sure that you were the one who made all the purchases.

Most skimming cases have happened in big cities, on both coasts, but Taylor says everyone should be careful.

The restaurant chain, Ruby Tuesday, just announced today that they are upgrading their credit card system to protect against identity theft.

The company says that their new system is ultra-secure.

It sends the credit card data to the bank in an encrypted form and does not store the credit card information in the sales terminal.