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Contents
For many of us, it may come as a complete surprise to a situation when funds disappeared without a trace on a bank card, and such cases are far from being isolated. Most people immediately go to the bank to find out where their money went, while others notice the fact of writing off only after a few weeks or months. Most often, employees of banking institutions in such cases just shrug their shoulders and report that funds from your card were withdrawn from one or another ATM. The incident is that the cardholders did everything right, withdrawing money from ATMs, but it never even entered their heads that their card details were copied at that moment using a modern type of fraud - skimming. What is such a fraud and how to protect yourself from it, we will talk in our article.
What is skimming?
Skimming (from the English "skim" - read fluently, slide, barely touch) is one of the types of fraudulent activities with bank cards, which consists in reading information from a magnetic stripe using a special technical device (skimmer). At the same time, fraudsters try to find out the PIN-code of the "skimmed" card. This is done with the help of special devices that are difficult to see with the naked eye, so any of us can become a victim of scammers.
Name on hand, information about the card and PIN-code, the fraudster can make a duplicate of the bank card and withdraw money from the card account of the original card holder. The most unpleasant thing is that the fact of unauthorized withdrawal is very difficult to prove. For the bank, everything looks as if the owner of the plastic himself, of his own free will, withdrew money from his account and has no right to present any claims to the bank.
The most important ways to protect yourself from this type of fraud are using a chip card and following basic recommendations when working with ATMs (more on this later in the article).
Skimming devices, their differences and how they work
A skimmer is a special device that is used to read the magnetic stripe data of plastic bank cards. In most cases, they are attached directly to the ATM, namely to its receiving slot of the card reader. At the same time, only a well-trained and observant person will be able to notice the presence of a skimmer; for most of the citizens, it will not cause any fears.
The skimming device consists of three elements:
Such devices are usually made in the form of a special cover on the ATM card reader. At the same time, the color and shape of such devices is selected for each ATM separately so as not to arouse the slightest suspicion among users, but as practice shows, criminals do not always manage to choose the color. They are powered by miniature batteries.
Also, skimmers can be inserted directly into the card collector itself, which greatly complicates the task of its detection. This is a newer, more sophisticated type of fraud called shimming. The reader itself - "shim", is a thin flexible board (its thickness is no more than 0.1 mm!), Which performs the same functions as a skimmer.
Skimmers for reading data from a magnetic strip of a card are divided into two types. Some work on the principle of accumulating information about users, while others immediately transmit information about cards to fraudsters using a radio channel to a miniature receiving device or directly to their receiving equipment. A variant of the device with a built-in SIM card and data transmission over cellular networks can be used.
There are also portable magnetic stripe readers, which are used for criminal purposes by waiters, hotel workers, cashiers. That is why try not to give your card to the wrong hands and do not lose sight of it.
Criminals, in addition to having to read information from the card, also need to find out the PIN code to access it. For this, special overhead keyboards and miniature cameras are used, which are almost impossible to notice. Often they are disguised as advertising materials or directly under the visor of an ATM. Micro cameras can be installed anywhere, not necessarily on the ATM itself - it all depends on the criminals' intelligence.
Using a skimming device, criminals manage to obtain all the necessary data from the magnetic stripe (card number, holder's name, card expiration date, CVV2 / CVC2 authentication code) in order to duplicate the card and subsequently withdraw funds from your account at any of the ATMs ... And any of us can become a victim. Everything happens in a few seconds at the moment when you decide to withdraw money from the card or pay for any services through a terminal or ATM.
Recently, in order to reduce the victims of skimming, many banks began to install terminals and ATMs with touch screens, however, this did not bother the fraudsters at all. To obtain a PIN, they began to use special overlays that are attached directly to the screen.
ATM manufacturers also produce anti-skimming pads, which are designed to prevent the installation of skimming pads, and the latest modifications suppress the operation of fraudulent pads using electromagnetic waves - preventing information from being read from the card.
How to protect yourself from skimming?
In order not to become another victim of cybercriminals during the next withdrawal of funds or payment for services through a terminal or ATM, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the following rules:
Finally, use the card as a payment instrument in stores, not as a means of withdrawing cash from ATMs.
Never lose your vigilance and remember the above rules. This will allow you to protect yourself and avoid becoming a victim of skimming.
- 1. What is skimming?
- 2. Skimming devices, their differences and principle of operation
- 3. How to protect yourself from skimming?
For many of us, it may come as a complete surprise to a situation when funds disappeared without a trace on a bank card, and such cases are far from being isolated. Most people immediately go to the bank to find out where their money went, while others notice the fact of writing off only after a few weeks or months. Most often, employees of banking institutions in such cases just shrug their shoulders and report that funds from your card were withdrawn from one or another ATM. The incident is that the cardholders did everything right, withdrawing money from ATMs, but it never even entered their heads that their card details were copied at that moment using a modern type of fraud - skimming. What is such a fraud and how to protect yourself from it, we will talk in our article.
What is skimming?
Skimming (from the English "skim" - read fluently, slide, barely touch) is one of the types of fraudulent activities with bank cards, which consists in reading information from a magnetic stripe using a special technical device (skimmer). At the same time, fraudsters try to find out the PIN-code of the "skimmed" card. This is done with the help of special devices that are difficult to see with the naked eye, so any of us can become a victim of scammers.
Name on hand, information about the card and PIN-code, the fraudster can make a duplicate of the bank card and withdraw money from the card account of the original card holder. The most unpleasant thing is that the fact of unauthorized withdrawal is very difficult to prove. For the bank, everything looks as if the owner of the plastic himself, of his own free will, withdrew money from his account and has no right to present any claims to the bank.
The most important ways to protect yourself from this type of fraud are using a chip card and following basic recommendations when working with ATMs (more on this later in the article).
Skimming devices, their differences and how they work
A skimmer is a special device that is used to read the magnetic stripe data of plastic bank cards. In most cases, they are attached directly to the ATM, namely to its receiving slot of the card reader. At the same time, only a well-trained and observant person will be able to notice the presence of a skimmer; for most of the citizens, it will not cause any fears.
The skimming device consists of three elements:
- magnetic reading head - it reads information from the magnetic stripe;
- miniature converter - converts the read information into a digital code;
- drive - writes a digital code to a data carrier.
Such devices are usually made in the form of a special cover on the ATM card reader. At the same time, the color and shape of such devices is selected for each ATM separately so as not to arouse the slightest suspicion among users, but as practice shows, criminals do not always manage to choose the color. They are powered by miniature batteries.
Also, skimmers can be inserted directly into the card collector itself, which greatly complicates the task of its detection. This is a newer, more sophisticated type of fraud called shimming. The reader itself - "shim", is a thin flexible board (its thickness is no more than 0.1 mm!), Which performs the same functions as a skimmer.
Skimmers for reading data from a magnetic strip of a card are divided into two types. Some work on the principle of accumulating information about users, while others immediately transmit information about cards to fraudsters using a radio channel to a miniature receiving device or directly to their receiving equipment. A variant of the device with a built-in SIM card and data transmission over cellular networks can be used.
There are also portable magnetic stripe readers, which are used for criminal purposes by waiters, hotel workers, cashiers. That is why try not to give your card to the wrong hands and do not lose sight of it.
Criminals, in addition to having to read information from the card, also need to find out the PIN code to access it. For this, special overhead keyboards and miniature cameras are used, which are almost impossible to notice. Often they are disguised as advertising materials or directly under the visor of an ATM. Micro cameras can be installed anywhere, not necessarily on the ATM itself - it all depends on the criminals' intelligence.
Using a skimming device, criminals manage to obtain all the necessary data from the magnetic stripe (card number, holder's name, card expiration date, CVV2 / CVC2 authentication code) in order to duplicate the card and subsequently withdraw funds from your account at any of the ATMs ... And any of us can become a victim. Everything happens in a few seconds at the moment when you decide to withdraw money from the card or pay for any services through a terminal or ATM.
Recently, in order to reduce the victims of skimming, many banks began to install terminals and ATMs with touch screens, however, this did not bother the fraudsters at all. To obtain a PIN, they began to use special overlays that are attached directly to the screen.
ATM manufacturers also produce anti-skimming pads, which are designed to prevent the installation of skimming pads, and the latest modifications suppress the operation of fraudulent pads using electromagnetic waves - preventing information from being read from the card.
How to protect yourself from skimming?
In order not to become another victim of cybercriminals during the next withdrawal of funds or payment for services through a terminal or ATM, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the following rules:
- choose for use terminals and ATMs, which are located directly in the branches of the bank or other protected institutions. In this case, it will be almost impossible for intruders to install skimmers without being noticed by the employees of the institution. It is better to refuse from street ATMs, and especially from those located in dark places;
- use your bank card only in those points in which you are one hundred percent sure;
- carefully inspect the ATM before inserting the card into the card capture reader. If you find any suspicious devices, call the bank's hotline and report this fact;
- if you have any suspicions about the presence of "foreign" devices on the ATM, then do not hesitate to touch them - check if they are firmly fixed. If it is obvious to you that the patch was recently attached (you may see remnants of not dried glue, flimsy and uneven attachment, etc.), then it is better not to tear it off, but to look for another ATM. Otherwise, you risk getting an unpleasant conversation with the bandits;
- Do not give the PIN code from your bank card to anyone, be it your relative or close friend;
- never give your card to strangers (including waiters, hotel workers, etc.), and in case of loss, immediately call the bank to block it. This will help save your funds;
- activate the SMS informing service. Thanks to this, you will receive a message on your phone when carrying out any operation on your card, be it replenishment or write-off. When you receive an SMS about a sudden write-off of funds from your account, if you did not buy anything with the card, immediately call the bank and block the card;
- use ATMs with anti-skimming pads and jitter - special devices that make the card vibrate when you enter it, which will protect you from reading information with a skimmer (so far this is a rarity);
- only issue cards with a chip - no exceptions! It is much more difficult to read information from a chip than from a magnetic stripe. But here it must be borne in mind that in addition to the chip on the card, there is also a magnetic stripe from which you can read data and use a duplicate card to withdraw funds from an outdated ATM, although there are fewer and fewer of them now;
- set a limit for the withdrawal of funds per day and in one operation (this can be done at a bank branch or remotely - in the Internet bank). Even if you fall for the tricks of fraudsters, they will not be able to use the entire amount on the card at once;
- be especially vigilant when using ATMs abroad. It is best to withdraw money only at bank branches;
- When entering your PIN, do not hesitate to cover your dialing fingers with your other hand. Insert the PIN with fast practiced movements. This will save you in the event that hidden mini criminals cameras are installed. Without obtaining a PIN, fraudsters will not be able to access the card and, accordingly, your funds will be safe.
Finally, use the card as a payment instrument in stores, not as a means of withdrawing cash from ATMs.
Never lose your vigilance and remember the above rules. This will allow you to protect yourself and avoid becoming a victim of skimming.
