Nice job being on top of it. Can't imagine the expression the person who placed it will get when they discover it's gone.

My MO has always been to withdraw cash from banks instead of gas stations and other non-bank-affiliated ATMs, to stave off this sort of thing.

So much for that security blanket.

@rpm773: Actually, that was before BofA starting hitting me for $2.50 on the back-end of a non-network ATM. Now I just go there.

Dang that is really disturbing. Plus, for a normal layperson that card skimmer looks just like the entry point of most ATM card readers. If a person like me were to put our cards in at night time, don't think I'd caught the difference. Good job man!

Considering that ATMs have cameras, it would be awfully risky for anyone who actually got caught doing this. I wonder how the police would catch him/her, though...setting up a 24-hour watch over the ATM seems like an inefficient way to use resources, and security cameras tend to have such bad detail that it seems that it would be easy to avoid recognition through the video by just wearing a cap or a scarf.

I don't use ATMs but if I did I hope I would be able to tell that one of these had been attatched.

Maybe you'll get lucky and the owner of the skimmer will report it missing.

He needs to look for a video camera that records what your pin number is. Thieves need both info to make fake atm cards.

This is the reason I always whack the card reader a little to see if it may be loose.

Probably a couple dozen-hundreds of numbers on the damn thing. The scammer who dropped it is gonna be mighty pissed.

Wow - thanks for the pictures. I will warn my friends and family - now that I have images to help show what to look out for.

@qxrt: It's been a while since I checked into this, but the last I heard, the ATM camera only snaps pictures when a transaction occurs. So in those cases, they won't get a picture of the scammer attaching the skimmer.

@iowahighlander: I'm not too familiar with what information is stored on a magnetic strip, but would you really need the pin number? It seems as if you can buy anything online these days with just the credit card number, expiration date, name, and address, which might all be stored on the card.

@iowahighlander: If you have a ATM/debit card, a thief could still make purchases, even without your PIN; they just can't pull raw cash.

What I'm curious about is this - I thought skimmer operations had to be more complex because they need the PIN in order to access the account. I remember hearing a story about skimmers that had also attached tiny wireless cameras pointed at the keypad that transmitted back pins.

All the ATMs around here have started attaching these green plastic things ove the card insert slots that have a small picture of a lock on them.

I assume that it's function is that you can't just stick your fake card reader over the bank's platic protector that juts out of the card slot by a good half inch minimum without it being really really obvious.

Guess that's why criminals have moved onto trying to steal and swap pin pads at gas stations here.

Well at least someone honest found it. I'm sure there's people that could've found that and used it for their own thievery. Good work! Thanks for being one of the good guys!

I wouldn't have given the slot in that picture a second thought--it looks perfectly normal to me. Good warning here, and kudos to Dan for quick thinking.

@qxrt: Actually, the PIN is stored on your bank cards.

You can test this with an un-networked chip authenticator.

@humphrmi: A story, or the episode of CSI that had that exact setup in it? I've no idea if that episode was based on a real example, or if your memory is just mixing the two... (no offense intended)

@rpm773:
Live Free!!

Liberty Bank pays back all monthly ATM fees at the end of each period. LOVE IT! (Just keep a $25 balance in a savings account... that's it)

@qxrt: I've worked with law enforcement enough to know that pictures or video of the perp does little good unless someone can identify the thief right away. It's not like they take it downtown and start comparing it with mugshots. At best, it's only evidence if and when they catch the person via other means.

I used to manage a video store and I could show the cops video of someone stealing movies. They would just go, "Yeah, great" and wander off to fill out their paperwork.

@Jonbo298:
Really? I imagine elaborate operations that place lots of these and are very happy if they recover half of them.

@humphrmi: That's likely only the camera that's physically inside the ATM. Many ATM kiosks also have external cameras that film the entire kiosk area 24x7. If they only filmed when a transaction occurs then there would likely be a huge rate of robberies that occur immediately after ATM withdrawals.

In an effort to prevent just this sort of thing, the Royal Bank (of Canada, eh?) super glued a weirdly shaped shield over the card slots - allowing the entry of a card but precious little to glue these things to.

Trouble was, they neglected to advertise they'd done this. When I approached the machine, the "safety device" looked so out of place, I went into the branch to report it as a skimmer. The poor receptionist said (for likely the 1000th time that morning) "No, it's not a skimmer. It's SUPPOSED to be there."

I hardly ever take money out of the ATM. Now I feel justified in using my debit card for transactions, because I know I wouldn't have noticed the skimmer. If I do start using more cash in the future, I am going to start going into the bank itself.

Damn, this is an unfortunate year to be graduating college. My fiscal sense is all messed up and paranoid. I'm probably going to end up keeping my money between my mattresses.

Has anybody noticed some gas stations have handicapped credit card readers lately? When I first saw one, I thought it was a skimmer.

Criminals would find it a waste of time to "skim" my card as the funds usually stay pretty in all my accounts with debit card access. I keep all my cash in 2nd checking accounts with no attached debit cards.

@bobbycreekwater:

Pretty low

After hearing about the card skimmer problems, I've been paranoid and always examine the readers closely. There's also been an issue with Redbox (the DVD rental kiosk) that was covered by consumerist: [consumerist.com]

It seems like the better move would have been to speak with the police first. They may have wanted to wait and see who came back to recover the skimmer and bust the jackass. But then again you wouldn't have a sweet skimmer for 24 hours...

@iowahighlander: As others have said, the card number could be used to make online purchases, rather than as a debit card.

the scam usually requires a another camera to capture the PIN entry too.

So check that ATM for a hidden camera while you are at it.

It seems extremely irresponsible of the police to just let WaMu run their own private investigation, not to mention leaving Dan in possession of a collection of stolen ATM card numbers on a flash card. Bumbling like that is a major reason identity theft is so common.

The bank branch I go to most often has a translucent green spacer attached to the card reader. Makes it impossible for anything to be stuck on them.

@lonestarbl: Do you work for them? I ask because you seem awfully excited about Liberty Bank... almost like the forced excitement of an employee...

@secretoftheeast: My local Redbox installed these bar sort of things that project out to prevent the installation of the kind of skimmer pictured in that post. The problem is, it prevents a lot of people (such as myself) from swiping cards properly, causing misreads. It gets really frustrating-- after the fifth misread, I give up.

Can I have my CC skimmer back now?

@Brian Taylor: I don't think they'd be able to bust anyone, even if a cop was standing there. Everyone has reason to walk up to an ATM. If someone saw their skimmer wasn't there, they could turn around and say, "Oops, I forgot my wallet." There wouldn't be any suspicious activity to point to any particular person.

@humphrmi: I'd heard that most standard atm cameras only record in image when the card is inserted and when the money pops out.

is it really a good idea to take the thing off and report it though? i think i would have called the police and waited for them to get there so that they could start an investigation, and maybe even set something up to catch the person who put it there.

or do i watch too much tv?

@AbsurdHero: I agree. You would think the police might like to have it as evidence, then again, they don't need any evidence if they don't plan on trying to find the criminals.

@Kogenta:
Yeah, they have those at the local CIBC branch too. The ones near me are see-through, I assume so that you can tell that there is nothing in them.

@humphrmi: Oh yeah, I've read about the camera thing too. This article mentions thievs attaching cameras:
The Moring Call

Although, it is a crappy newspaper, so maybe their source was that CSI episode.

@AoE: "Beatings will continue until morale improves."

I like how my bank's ATM/ABM is setup. Since where the card goes in recessed so a skimmer would look highly out of place on them.
Heres a image of one.

[farm4.static.flickr.com]

@snclfe: A man can hope, can't he =P

@Julius Seizure. Jim to my Peeps:

Huh, that must vary place to place as the RBC machines near me all had a "See something new?" poster when the locks went in.

they came down eventually, but maybe the lock there went in before the poster?

I'm saddened that the cops didn't do anything other than be interested in actually seeing one of the units. No finger prints or anything?
Identity theft is so easy to do and there's not much you can do to combat it once it's happened... or just go all liquid? hah.

I'd HOPE that wamu would go through the video on that machine and find out who it was or at least get a grainy image to the cops.

Great catch, hero tag is for subby.

/slash
//because I can :)