Can you really sniff out gas station card skimmers with your phone?

There’s a “helpful tip” making the Facebook rounds, and it’s a little bit helpful but a lot not so much.

It’s about using Bluetooth to detect credit card skimmers at gas stations:

    Here is a helpful tip:
    When you pull up to a gas station to fill your car. Search your phone for Bluetooth devices. If a sequence of letters and a sequence of numbers shows up in your device list do not pay at the pump. One of the pumps have a card reader installed. All card readers are bluetooth.

The post refers to a card “reader,” but what it means is card “skimmer.” The first is a legal way for you to pay, while the latter is a piece of thief-ware, be it a plastic gadget clumsily glued on to the face of an ATM or gas pump or technology that’s installed internally.