ATM skimmers have become a menace of its own and each year, thousands of card users are being subjected to theft by scammers using skimmer devices to steal ATM and credit card information from the magnetic strip of the card. In UK, the cost of ATM skimmer attacks have mounted to around 75 million pounds, and while the numbers continue to rise despite the efforts made by authorities to educate the unsuspecting ATM or credit card device users.
The first step in the process of stealing money using a skimmer device is to set-up the device in an unsuspecting location. Thus, scammers usually select the more isolated ATM machines or the machines, which are used for self-checkouts. However, even the busiest ATM machine is not immune and should not be considered safe without having a second look.
Following selecting the appropriate ATM machine, these scammers will place the skimmer devices over the ‘card slot’ of the ATM machine. The appearance of these devices can range from an obvious add-on like look to a highly disguised stealthy look. However, most scammers do not spend much on stealthy looking gadgets but will use the cheapest alternative to steal the card information. It may not take few seconds or minutes to install the skimmer device over the card reader and during this time, anyone outside the ATM might think that the scammer is performing a legitimate transaction.
After setting up the skimmer device, the next step by the scammer is to place a pinhole camera either on top of the keypad or else to place a fake keypad on top of the actual ATM keypad to capture the pin number pertaining to each ATM card. Unless the scammer could capture the pin code, the information obtained from the magnetic strip of an ATM card would be worthless.
After setting up the skimmer and the pinhole camera, the scammer will walk away and in most instances, would hang around to see if the device works properly or to see if anyone gets suspicious regarding the installed components. According to some experts, a second scammer will follow the first and perform an ATM transaction to indicate to those who are queuing outside that the ATM is working fine, to prevent them from being suspicious.
When it comes to stealing the information, these devices can either store the information in the skimming device itself or else transmit the information as and when it extracts to another locations through various means. Thus, it is not necessary for a thief to hang around all the time near the hacked ATM machine.
After collecting enough information, or rather stealing enough information, the scammer will remove the skimming device and the pinhole camera without raising suspicion. The information stored in the removed skimming device can be used to clone new ATM cards by using a simple card reader and a personal computer. These cards can be created using any card with a magnetic strip. In most instances, discarded phone cards have been used as the ‘clones’. Following producing the clone, the scammers can use the card and its pin number in any ATM machine unsuspectingly and withdraw any amount of money residing in the relevant bank account.
Thus, when looking at the process of stealing ATM card information through a skimming device, it is obvious that the scammers are using the unsuspecting nature of the ATM user. Thus, vigilant inspection of the ATM card slot, avoiding ATM machines which are in isolation and covering the finger movements when entering the pin number should help prevent any scammers from stealing valuable information from ones ATM card.