Fraudsters are cracking open old handheld cassette recorders and using their components to build ATM skimmers that steal your credit card numbers.
The devices use the cheap data recording abilities of the cassette player to copy the magnetic information on the credit card. A separate microcamera records the victim’s PIN codes as they punch them in. The magnetic strip is later decoded using a custom .WAV analysis program. KrebsOnSecurity recently got a manufacturer of one of these devices to shoot him over some pictures of his wares.
Pretty clever what these punks can get up to. I usually reflexively check out the ATMs I use, pulling on the card reader and looking around for hidden camera holes. At the very least it’s a way to pass the time while you wait for your cash to dispense.
Crooks Rock Audio-based ATM Skimmers [KrebsOnSecurity]
That pic above does not look like the innards of a walkman…is that an integrated USB port on the right of the PCB?
the microcamera mentioned?
Since when do Walkmans have record functions? Never AFAIK. Or at least very unlikely.
More likely this was a cheap standard handheld cassette recorder. Walkmans were play only. I owned a couple of them over the years.
Mine had a record feature. But my parents bought me the good kind.
+1 and a me, too!
Every walkman I’ve ever owned has included a record feature
They’re probably thinking of Talkboy/talkgirl.
Um – the skimmers don’t need to record … Just read.
The play head reads (from tape/card); the record head writes. They just hook the read head to some kind of data logger instead of a speaker.
I wonder if anyone has ever broken an ATM machine, thinking it had a skimmer but mistakenly pulled off the face instead.
They tend to be solidly made, probably because of those false rumors that they’re full of delicious chocolate inside.
It’s kinda neat that you can just read the wave to get the binary by sight alone.
I’m not the only one who tried that, right?
Nope.
I was wondering why Bank of America plays the Bee Gees
I was wondering why the price of old walkmans was going up,
along with gold futures.
What happens if I stick my old Beastie Boys tape into the ATM?
Hopefully said skills possessed by them will be enough to pay the bills. If they don’t, it could be sabotage.
+1000
Rhyming and stealing ensue.
You’d get a license to shill.
I’m always checking for these things now. Though, Wachovia’s atm card readers are indented considerably, so it’d be hard to get something in there without notice. Though, I’m sure people are sneaky. I still give a good look, and I always cover my hands when I am keying in my pin.
It’s getting worse. Local LEO’s were showing off a couple of skimmers that were installed into self serve gas pumps without anybody knowing about it.
It was installed after hours, and nobody knows how long it was in place or how many cards it compromised.
It didn’t even need the keypad info apparently. According to the experts, it was advanced beyond what they had seen before and even saved data, then downloaded it to a local (nearby) receiver when commanded.. Everyone who used that gas pump with a card (debit or credit) was possibly compromised.
probably stealing just credit card info. Think how many people use ONLY debit cards vs. credit cards that don’t need a PIN.
Gas stations in my area have started placing paper seals with the words “Please notify cashier if this seal is broken” over the seam where the access panel could be jimmied open or picked.
I have to say, though, the imp of the perverse in most people is bound to cause a high “false positive” reading on this.
whatever happened to the good old days of in person muggings? These kids are just plain lazy.
Nothing new. I built a magstripe reader out of a casette tape head back in 99. Instructions have been on on the internet for years and BBSes prior.
Worse:
http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/?watchId=8ba6f8fc-90a2-4711-90ea-1884ec348310
Do not set your microwave for more than 1 second…
People need to learn hos to check for skimmers, ATM’s should have instructions on how to check.
over where I live, in a nearby mall, there is a chase bank inside of the mall and outside of the bank (but inside the mall) was an atm machine with a card skimmer on it. I could tell by the loose faceplate on the atm machine, in which people would just push back into place and continue to use. since I used to pass by the mall when coming home from school, I noticed that the skimmer was there for like 3 days before disappearing (in which I assume the criminal removed it in order to check what was collected.
The sad part is that there are 2 security cams pointed at the row of atm’s
Customers don’t know how to spot them and workers don’t know how to spot them.
And no, people who know one is there are not likely to report it because reporting generally makes you into a suspect. The weird thing is that i haven’t notice skimmers on the credit card slots at the gas station.
(this was a long time ago and instead of using a PCB, the criminal used just wires to connect everything, and also tape to hold everything together in order to make if flexible so it can be folded in a custom shape)
I wish the media could provide more coverage on these issues (while they may not be the most entertaining news, it is important for people to know)