Skimmer Uses Bank Door Swipe, Crooks Don't Even Touch ATM

In a twist to the usual ATM skimmer scam, there’s a new report from Krebs on Security about crooks who put the skimmer inside the bank door-lock. When you swipe your card to get inside, they grab your digits. A camera hidden behind a mirror above the ATM and pointed down at the keypad records your PIN code when you punch it in.

Savvy Consumerist followers know how to check an ATM for out-of-place parts, pinholes, and jiggly readers that can indicate it’s been compromised. But now that’s not enough, you have to be paranoid about your whole surroundings. Even if the ATM is inside the bank you can’t feel totally safe. One way to protect yourself is to cover your PIN with your hand. Of course that won’t help if the thieves have put devices underneath the keypads to record your digits. There’s no such thing as 100% secure.

In a behavioral science flourish, besides the door lock and mirror camera, the thieves also put a “out of order” sign over one of the ATMs to make sure all customers went to the ATM with the camera over it.

ATM Skimmers That Never Touch the ATM [Krebs on Security via BoingBoing] (Thanks to Jim!)

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