ATM wiretapping

Skimming devices here in the US just seeming keep getting more and more complex in the years since bank cards have become more common. In recent years the adaptation of EMV cards by the rest of the world have drawn credit card thieves here to the US like a magnet. As the public becomes more and more aware and countermeasures are taken to defeat thieves they keep coming up with more and more inventive ways of stealing card holder’s information.

In September the Secret Service advised financial institutions to be on the lookout for a new method of skimming or more accurately ATM wiretapping. Thieves will make a large hole in the front of the ATM and will place a skimming device into the inside through that hole and attach it to the card reader with a magnet. Many thieves use a USB-connected endiscope (a medical tool used to look inside the body) to make sure that the device is attached. They then cover up the hole with a metal plate and attach a decal of the bank’s logo or basic instructions on how to use the ATM to disguise it. Most will return a day or so later and attach a pinhole camera to gain a customer’s PIN.

For the untrained eye spotting one of these is not easy. The devices are now being designed to blend in with the other internal electronics making it very hard to spot. If done right no one will notice the metal plate that is used to cover the hole. Only a trained eye will probably be able to spot a tampered with ATM and the criminals are counting on that.

If you are a merchant and have an ATM on your businesses premises it is a good idea to check it and make sure it is not being tampered with. That is especially true if it is tucked away out of sight where a thief could potentially work unobserved. Credit card fraud is a major issue here in the US and as long as ATMs read magnetic strips it will something that all Americans will have to be smarter about. The thieves are getting more and more creative leaving many to ask where this will stop?