As Halloween draws closer, here’s a reminder of what you should really be scared of: ATM skimmers, or devices that attach to cash machines to slurp up customers’ card numbers and PINs. You should also be afraid of adults in creepy baby doll masks. According to police in Minnesota, a recent crime there incorporates both of these terrifying prospects, with a mask-wearing suspect accused of placing skimmers on ATMs in two counties and stealing tens of thousands of dollars. [More]
skimmers
Here’s A Gas Pump Skimmer That Texts Victims’ Card Data To Crooks
By 7.27.17
For the crooks operating skimmers on gas pumps, ATMs, or retail credit card terminals, an important part of their business model is getting the data from the devices. One way around this problem is to integrate a SIM card and have the device send text messages with the freshest payment card numbers. For the first time, such a device was found inside a gas pump. [More]
Here’s A Snap-On Bluetooth Skimmer Spotted Out In The Wild
By 2.27.17
Have you ever wondered how a retailer can leave a Bluetooth skimmer on a payment card terminal in its stores for weeks at a time? It’s harder to detect the devices than you might think, because crooks have their own places to shop for spare parts that snap right on a payment terminal and are hard to spot if you aren’t looking for them. [More]
Watch Out For Card Skimmers On Gas Pumps In Arizona (And Everywhere Else, Too)
By 9.29.16
Going to an actual attendant and paying cash for gas is something fewer and fewer of us do every year. But for all the problems of cash, it might be less risky than sticking your credit card in any old gas pump, where a skimmer can grab and steal your data with very little effort. And those skimmers are everywhere. Case in point? Arizona. [More]
2 Men Accused Of Using ATM Skimmer To Take $500K From US Bank Customers
By 9.2.16
If you’re hitting the road this holiday weekend, you might find yourself visiting some unfamiliar gas stations, ATMs, or kiosks that accept credit cards. The recent arrest in California of two men who are accused of draining $500,000 from US Bank customers’ accounts should remind people across the country and all over the world: be careful where you swipe your debit card, and be protective of your PIN. [More]
Some Jerks Are Using Bluetooth Card Skimming Devices At Dallas Gas Stations
By 8.5.16
If you live in the Dallas area, you might want to rethink using plastic to pay at the gas station. Not because debit and credit cards aren’t a fine way to pay for fuel, but because some jerks are using Bluetooth skimming devices to steal from oblivious drivers at the pump. [More]
Let’s Watch Some Promotional Videos From Makers Of ATM Skimmers
By 6.14.16 — Updated: 2.28.17
Legitimate businesses create video ads to promote their products, so why shouldn’t companies that can provide you with the supplies to commit crimes? Here are some videos where sellers of the tools of the ATM skimmer trade show off how their products work, in case you’ve always wondered how to insert and remove a super-thin ATM skimmer. [More]
Here’s What You’ll Find Inside A Real ATM Skimmer Found In Indonesia
By 5.9.16
What would you do if you were on vacation abroad, and you found a skimmer attached to an ATM? Security consultant Matt South discovered a camera attachment on an ATM in Bali, Indonesia, and decided to bring it back to his hotel to take it apart. He found a plastic enclosure that contained a modified motion-activated spy camera, and four holes that turned out to be a USB port. [More]
What Does A Grocery Store PIN Pad Skimmer Look Like?
By 2.3.16
Have you ever wondered how customers could slide their cards through and enter their PINs on a compromised payment terminal without even noticing? While some skimming schemes involve Bluetooth transmitters and require disassembling the device, installing a skimmer can be as simple as snapping an identical part over an existing card reader. [More]
Safeway Says No Payment Data Stolen From California Stores, Only Colorado
By 12.17.15
There’s potential good news out of Safeway: while the company confirmed that they found skimmers in credit card payment terminals in two states, a spokesperson says that the baddies didn’t harvest any customer data from the stores in California. Instead, the grocer found them back in September while inspecting terminals. While it’s good news that customers didn’t walk up to an ATM only to find their bank accounts drained, it’s still worrisome that someone was able to install the skimmers in the first place. [More]
Card Skimmers Found Inside Payment Terminals In California And Colorado Safeway Stores
By 12.16.15
Regular Consumerist readers are probably now used to checking gas pumps, kiosks, and ATMs for visible and obvious skimming devices. However, banks have discovered and Safeway has confirmed that credit card terminals in some of their stores in California and Colorado were compromised with hardware skimmers: devices embedded right in the card-processing machines that harvested their card data and PINs. [More]
Would You Have Spotted This Skimmer Found On An ATM In Mexico?
By 7.22.15
Banks and credit unions here in the United States are reporting ATM card fraud that originated with skimmers in the touristy town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Imagine the opportunity from a criminal’s point of view: an area full of American tourists with nice, magnetic-strip cards! Would you have been a victim? It helps if you know how to spot a compromised cash machine. [More]
Investigation Found 103 Card Skimmers In Florida Gas Stations
By 5.20.15
If you’re still using your debit card and PIN at self-pay gas pumps, here’s a reminder of why that isn’t such a good idea. Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services sent inspectors out to look for card skimmers in gas pumps all over the state. They found more than 103 of the devices. [More]
Card Skimmers Still Found On Bank Lobby Card Readers
By 3.17.15
Alert Consumerist readers know to check ATM card readers for signs of skimmer attachments, PIN pad capture devices, and video cameras to avoid having ATM skimmer crooks drain your bank account. Yet these nefarious devices aren’t just found on cash machines and payment kiosks: some banks use magnetic card readers to protect ATM access after hours, and these can hold skimmers, too. [More]
Watch Suspected Scammers Install And Harvest Data From ATM Skimmers
By 8.21.14
Skimmers are devices that very bad people attach to unattended credit card readers such as bank ATMs, public transit kiosks, post office kiosks, or gas pumps. They capture card numbers, and sometimes a hidden camera captures PINs, so scammers can clean out victim’s bank accounts. Of course, ATMs have their own security cameras, which catch images of the scammers at work. Like this footage from a recent skimmer installation at Navy Federal Credit Union branches in northern Virginia. [More]
Can ATM Operators Beat Skimmers By Simply Rotating Card Readers 90 Degrees?
By 8.1.14
For decades, we’ve been sliding our credit and debit cards into ATMs with the shorter side of the card entering the reader. All this while, ID thieves have been improving their card-skimming devices to fit this well-established mold. The skimmers have gotten smaller, sleeker, and smarter, to the point where even a trained eye might be fooled. So what’s the best way to upend all those years of hard work by the bad guys? According to ATM biggie Diebold, it’s just as simple as turning the reader 90 degrees. [More]
More Tiny ATM Skimmers That Will Haunt Your Wallet’s Nightmares
By 7.8.14
Would you notice a tiny ATM skimmer that hides just inside the card slot and slurps up your personal data? The European ATM Security Team, a not-for-profit organization that tracks ATM-related crime in different parts of the European Union, recently showed off some new and nearly invisible skimmers that they harvested in an unnamed country. It’s like a horror movie for your bank account. [More]
Watch Out For Card Skimmers On Post Office Kiosks
By 5.13.14
Automated Postal Centers (APCs) are kiosks that are available when post office lines are too long, the service counter is closed, or you want to avoid bothersome human interaction. They’re set up very much like ATMs that print postage instead of dispensing cash. Like any other machine that accepts debit cards and is accessible to the public, APCs have been the target of card-skimming scammers. [More]
