Card Skimming On The Rise
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[size=-1]February 28, 2006
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[font=verdana, arial,geneva]SEATTLE - It happens in an instant. While you're getting money or making a payment at the cash machine - crooks are using hidden devices to steal your account information to make copies of your card. [/font]
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It's called "skimming" and KOMO 4 News has learned crooks have been attaching illegal card readers to local ATMs with increasing frequency.
A man contacted our newsroom earlier this month after one of the card readers fell off when he swiped his card.
"When I pulled the card out, something fell off the debit card reader and landed on my feet," said Ken, who asked that we protect his identity. He is concerned because the scammers were watching him when he picked up the skimmer at an ARCO Mini-Mart in Kitsap County.
"They guy was really close to me and he was holding some kind of palm reader or blackberry or PDA or something," he said.
"They attached a device to one of our machines," said Mini-Mart Manager Melinda Johnson.
The doctored card reader was attached directly over the real reader on one of the point-of-sale ATMs at the gas pump. When customers put in their cards to pay, the cards were actually being swiped twice.
The U.S. Secret Service took the device. But Ken took pictures showing how the device was configured for downloading the information copied from the magnetic stripes.
"That's a FireWire connector," Ken said, pointing to a part of the skimmer that connects to a computer.
With these devices, skimmers can download your account information and make hundreds of cloned cards in a matter of hours.
This time, the crooks took off when Ken and Melinda called police. "I mean, they were agitated that we had the device. Obviously we stopped them from gathering any information," said Melinda. But the Arco manager said surveillance video shows the two men installing the skimmer abouthalf an hour before Ken showed up.
Ken was able to provide a description of the car: a white Toyota 4Runner with a California license plate.
Police officials say there is an alert out for that same white 4Runner in connection with recent skimming and credit card fraud in Southern California.
Investigators suspect an organized theft ring. Recent arrests across the country point to a common link involving Romanian nationals. Two suspected ringleaders were picked up in Northern California in January.
Finding Skimming Devices Is Rare
But it's not just Arco and it's not just gas stations that are targeted. Scammers are using skimming devices virtually anywhere you can swipe a debit or credit card.
Undercover King County Detective Johnson showed us pictures of a different type of skimmer discovered last summer by maintenance crews on a Boeing Employees Credit Union ATM in Woodinville.
Johnson and other investigators say finding the devices is rare, because the crooks usually retrieve them before anyone catches on.
The skimmer found in Woodinville was nearly undetectable. The slot for customer cards on the ATM is usually flush with the face of the ATM, but the skimmer sat right on top, capturing card numbers information as customers inserted their cards. It was painted the same color as the machine and made to look like a legitimate piece of the ATM.
The skimming attachment even had a slot for receipts to be printed out for customers, so the transaction appeared to take place normally and they had no idea their ATM card number and PIN were just stolen.
Inserting a card activated a tiny hidden camera that was positioned directly over the key pad to record customer keystrokes and get their pin numbers.
James Oelund discovered a similar skimmer on an ATM in a strip all in Bellevue. "The front was a little bit different," he said. "I pried it a little to get my receipt out and a whole section of the panel came off and I noticed inside the panel there was a card reader, self-powered- had memory to store the card numbers on it."
James took the device home and called police. "And then I called the bank and had them cancel my card right away," he said.
Skimming in Restaurants
Thieves even pay waiters to use hand-held skimmers in restaurants - a trend I first warned about in 1999.
"A person well known to us paid one of the waitresses in a restaurant, and he gave her a little hand-held skimmer," said Detective Johnson.
While most restaurant workers are honest, recent police reports across the country reveal skimming devices in eating places are becoming more common.
"I don't know about right this moment," said Johnson, "but it happens all the time."
Skimming On The Rise Nationwide
Banks, restaurants and even law enforcement officials are quick to insist skimming is not a major problem. But there's no getting around the fact that skimming is on the rise nationwide.
The hot spots are California and Florida. But it's hitting thousands of victims for millions of dollars - from the east coast, to the recent spike here in the Northwest.
Based on the Secret Service's own estimates, in 1990 skimming accounted for only one percent of all credit card fraud. By 2000, it was up to 20 percent, and it continues to climb.
The estimated losses are between $110 million to $127 million a year.
Banks and businesses tell me they're beefing up security, increasing their patrol of ATMs and educating customers and employees.
Concerned about public over-reaction, they emphasize that card skimming is not a big problem in this area. But indications are it will continue to grow in the United States.
To protect yourself, only use cash machines you're familiar with and always look for anything out of place.
Watch for people sitting in cars or standing nearby monitoring the ATM activity. Test the card reader with your hands to see if it's loose. When you enter your pin number, cover your keystrokes with your other hand. And always check your bank statements. In fact it's good idea to check your balance several times a month so if some thing is off, you can catch it.
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[size=-1]February 28, 2006
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[font=verdana, arial,geneva]SEATTLE - It happens in an instant. While you're getting money or making a payment at the cash machine - crooks are using hidden devices to steal your account information to make copies of your card. [/font]
[font=verdana, arial,geneva]
It's called "skimming" and KOMO 4 News has learned crooks have been attaching illegal card readers to local ATMs with increasing frequency.
A man contacted our newsroom earlier this month after one of the card readers fell off when he swiped his card.
"When I pulled the card out, something fell off the debit card reader and landed on my feet," said Ken, who asked that we protect his identity. He is concerned because the scammers were watching him when he picked up the skimmer at an ARCO Mini-Mart in Kitsap County.
"They guy was really close to me and he was holding some kind of palm reader or blackberry or PDA or something," he said.
"They attached a device to one of our machines," said Mini-Mart Manager Melinda Johnson.
The doctored card reader was attached directly over the real reader on one of the point-of-sale ATMs at the gas pump. When customers put in their cards to pay, the cards were actually being swiped twice.
The U.S. Secret Service took the device. But Ken took pictures showing how the device was configured for downloading the information copied from the magnetic stripes.
With these devices, skimmers can download your account information and make hundreds of cloned cards in a matter of hours.
This time, the crooks took off when Ken and Melinda called police. "I mean, they were agitated that we had the device. Obviously we stopped them from gathering any information," said Melinda. But the Arco manager said surveillance video shows the two men installing the skimmer abouthalf an hour before Ken showed up.
Ken was able to provide a description of the car: a white Toyota 4Runner with a California license plate.
Police officials say there is an alert out for that same white 4Runner in connection with recent skimming and credit card fraud in Southern California.
Investigators suspect an organized theft ring. Recent arrests across the country point to a common link involving Romanian nationals. Two suspected ringleaders were picked up in Northern California in January.
Finding Skimming Devices Is Rare
But it's not just Arco and it's not just gas stations that are targeted. Scammers are using skimming devices virtually anywhere you can swipe a debit or credit card.
Undercover King County Detective Johnson showed us pictures of a different type of skimmer discovered last summer by maintenance crews on a Boeing Employees Credit Union ATM in Woodinville.
Johnson and other investigators say finding the devices is rare, because the crooks usually retrieve them before anyone catches on.
The skimmer found in Woodinville was nearly undetectable. The slot for customer cards on the ATM is usually flush with the face of the ATM, but the skimmer sat right on top, capturing card numbers information as customers inserted their cards. It was painted the same color as the machine and made to look like a legitimate piece of the ATM.
The skimming attachment even had a slot for receipts to be printed out for customers, so the transaction appeared to take place normally and they had no idea their ATM card number and PIN were just stolen.
James Oelund discovered a similar skimmer on an ATM in a strip all in Bellevue. "The front was a little bit different," he said. "I pried it a little to get my receipt out and a whole section of the panel came off and I noticed inside the panel there was a card reader, self-powered- had memory to store the card numbers on it."
James took the device home and called police. "And then I called the bank and had them cancel my card right away," he said.
Skimming in Restaurants
Thieves even pay waiters to use hand-held skimmers in restaurants - a trend I first warned about in 1999.
"A person well known to us paid one of the waitresses in a restaurant, and he gave her a little hand-held skimmer," said Detective Johnson.
"I don't know about right this moment," said Johnson, "but it happens all the time."
Skimming On The Rise Nationwide
Banks, restaurants and even law enforcement officials are quick to insist skimming is not a major problem. But there's no getting around the fact that skimming is on the rise nationwide.
The hot spots are California and Florida. But it's hitting thousands of victims for millions of dollars - from the east coast, to the recent spike here in the Northwest.
Based on the Secret Service's own estimates, in 1990 skimming accounted for only one percent of all credit card fraud. By 2000, it was up to 20 percent, and it continues to climb.
The estimated losses are between $110 million to $127 million a year.
Banks and businesses tell me they're beefing up security, increasing their patrol of ATMs and educating customers and employees.
Concerned about public over-reaction, they emphasize that card skimming is not a big problem in this area. But indications are it will continue to grow in the United States.
To protect yourself, only use cash machines you're familiar with and always look for anything out of place.
Watch for people sitting in cars or standing nearby monitoring the ATM activity. Test the card reader with your hands to see if it's loose. When you enter your pin number, cover your keystrokes with your other hand. And always check your bank statements. In fact it's good idea to check your balance several times a month so if some thing is off, you can catch it.
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