Skimmer: The threat on ATM fraud devices known as “insert skimmers,” these thin data theft tools made to be completely hidden inside of a cash’s machine’s card acceptance slot.
What Are Skimmers?
Skimmers are essentially malicious card readers that grab the data of the card’s magnetic stripe attached to the real payment terminals so that they can harvest data from every person that swipes their cards.
For a near look, how stealthy insert skimmers can be, it helps to see videos of these things being installed and removed. Here is the promotional sales video disclosed by two ATM Skimmer providers.
Traditional ATM skimmers are fraud devices made to be placed over the top of the cash machine’s card acceptance slot, usually secured to the ATM with glue or double-sided tape.
Now financial institution is tweaking their technologies to detect anything placed over the machines. As a result, more fraudsters are selling and using insert skimming devices — which are completely hidden from view once inserted into an ATM.
A sales video produced by yet another miscreant in the cybercrime underground shows an insert skimmer being installed and removed from a motorized card acceptance slot that has been fully removed from an ATM so that the fraud device can be seen even while it is inserted.
In a typical setup, insert skimmers capture payment card data from the magnetic stripe on the backs of cards inserted into a hacked ATM, while a pinhole spy camera hidden above or beside the PIN pad records time-stamped video of cardholders entering their PINs. The data allows thieves to fabricate new cards and use PINs to withdraw cash from victim accounts.
Covering the PIN pad with your hand blocks any hidden camera from capturing your PIN — and hidden cameras are used on the vast majority of the more than three dozen ATM skimming incidents.
Check for Tampering
When you approach an ATM, check for some obvious signs of tampering at the top of the ATM, near the speakers, the side of the screen, the card reader itself, and the keyboard. If something looks different, such as a different color or material, graphics that aren’t aligned correctly, or anything else that doesn’t look right, don’t use that ATM. The same is true for credit card readers.
There are few steps everyone needs to minimize the skimmer Gang Success
- Cover the PIN pad while you enter your PIN
- Try to avoid dodgy-looking and standalone cash machines in low-lit areas, if possible.
- Stick to ATMs that are physically installed in a bank. Stand-alone ATMs are usually easier for thieves to hack.
- Be especially vigilant when withdrawing cash on the weekends; thieves tend to install skimming devices on a weekend — when they know the bank won’t be open again for more than 24 hours.
- Keep a close eye on your bank statements, and dispute any unauthorized charges or withdrawals immediately.
If you like this piece of information and like to know to learn more skimmers, check out the series provided by kerbs All About Skimmers. Also, check the Advanced ATM Penetration Testing Methods.
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