Unfortunately, I haven't seen any Walmart have the tap-to-pay readers.

This all boils down to what?
Not completely fool proof, but I'm a big believer.
Freeze your credit,
The sooner the better.

Freezing your credit does not affect skimming at all

They all do, and have had for quite some time.

Some clarification here.
Walmart does not accept “tap to pay” because they do not use terminals with NFC (near field communications). So they do not accept Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, credit/debit cards with “tap to pay” feature. All of these services use and require NFC technology.

Walmart Pay does not use NFC. It uses a different technology that generates a QR code on the terminal to securely communicate the transaction. Walmart Pay can only be used at Walmart affiliated locations and nowhere else.

Walmart terminals do have EMV chip readers. So if your card has an EMV chip, you can pay by inserting the EMV chip into the terminal. This is more secure than swiping the strip. But as noted in the original post, if someone has hacked the terminal with a skimmer, the act of inserting your EMV chip can allow the skimmer to read the swipe strip data. Tap to pay does not have this skimmer risk.

This would not work at all. Everyone with a smartphone including employees has a bluetooth signal. Everyone with wireless headphones is emitting a bluetooth signal. Everyone wearing a smartwatch is emitting a bluetooth signal...

Is there anyway for us to check for a skimming device??

Not likely

Not fool proof, but grab the credit card keypad and give it a pull, make sure it's secure. Many of the skimmers can be pulled off fairly easily. Although I'm sure the thieves are getting better at it.

I'm not sure how, but it can be done. The tap-to-pay/access hack is most often used in ATMs. They gum up the card slot and a "helpful customer" tells you to use tap instead.

Not skimming or hacking at all - carelessness by the user.


Here is a report about it.