Posted on 02/22/2010 4:55:13 PM PST by beaversmom
Pictured below (see pics at link) is what’s known as a skimmer, or a device made to be affixed to the mouth of an ATM and secretly swipe credit and debit card information when bank customers slip their cards into the machines to pull out money. Skimmers have been around for years, of course, but thieves are constantly improving them, and the device pictured below is a perfect example of that evolution.
This particular skimmer was found Dec. 6, 2009, attached to the front of a Citibank ATM in Woodland Hills, Calif. Would you have been able to spot this?
This is fairly professional job: Notice how the bulk of the electronics fit into the flap below the card acceptance slot. Also, check out the tiny pinhole camera (pictured below), ostensibly designed to switch on and record the victim’s movements as he or she enters their PIN at the ATM.
It’s hard to know whether this was a homemade skimmer, or one that was purchased from online criminal forums. Some of the skimmers sold on these forums are extremely sophisticated, incorporating features such the ability to send an SMS text message to the thieves’ mobile phone whenever a new card is swiped.
This type of fraud is actually far more common that you might think: A quick query on Twitter for “ATM skimmer” usually brings up plenty of local news reports about these devices being found on ATMs.
Practice basic ATM street smarts and you should have little to fear from these skimmers: If you see something that doesn’t look right — such as a odd protrusion or off-color component on an ATM — consider going to another machine. Also, stay away from ATMs that are not located in publicly visible and well-lit areas.
another device honed to fleece banks and their customers....
ROFLMAO!!! Too funny!
Cheers
wow. pretty clever. I’ll bet the russians are all over this. that’s not yer average “hold muh beer” craftsmanship.
lMAO!!!!
LOL! :) Let’s not turn this into a Romney bashing thread though, thank you very much. :) Besides, the bigger fraud is in the Oval office.
Pretty sophisticated stuff.
These are very interesting, and the referenced articles have good pictures.
There is, however, a very simple way to catch the users of these devices. Think about it! It only took me a few minutes to see how you could catch the criminals rather easily.
I don’t see why the banking industry finds this scam so difficult to defeat. Do they need my talents?
I would not have noticed those. What’s the url to buy those at? LOL
What was your idea?
“It only took me a few minutes to see how you could catch the criminals rather easily.”
Help us out, and tell us how we can catch them, or at least, spot the phony devices.
This is similar to the famous comment of Pierre de Fermat:
"I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain."
But whatever his proof was, the current belief is that it was wrong. Perhaps your method is not free of flaws either?
LMREO!
Gross amounts of europunk grafitti all over the ATM just might be another clue that you should move on to a different machine...
>> What’s the url to buy those at?
That’s just WRONG, papa. So very wrong.
(A preposition is something you should never end a sentence with.)
According to Doten, the U.S. Secret Service estimates that annual losses from ATM fraud totaled about $1 billion in 2008, or about $350,000 each day. Card skimming, where the fraudster affixes a bogus card reader on top of the real reader, accounts for more than 80 percent of ATM fraud, Doten said.
Them is pretty impressive numbers and I think that it behooves all of us to practice pro-active security. The pictures of conforming enclosures, micro-cameras and over-laying keypads show that crooks have metal-shop and computer skills (at taxpayer expense in some cases!) Mind your money or it will go missing and given Obama's proclivities, I won't have any to spare.
LOL
The Aggie graduated from Texas A&M and decided he might get a Master’s Degree from Harvard. He takes a trip to visit the campus and goes walking around looking at all the sights. He sees a professor walking by and says “Sir, can you tell me where the library’s at?”
The professor stops in his tracks and looks the Aggie up and down. “Young man”, he says, “here at Hahvahd University, we do not end our sentences with prepositions!”
“Oh?” said the Aggie thoughtfully. Then, he said, “So, can you tell me where the library’s at, Butthead?”
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