Thin ATM skimmers fit into credit card insertion slot

The police force in an unidentified European nation have successfully discovered and retrieved extremely thin ATM skimmers. Just how thin? We are talking about wafer-thin here, being so small that they are more than capable of fitting right into the credit card insertion slot without the user noticing anything out of the ordinary.

According to Brian Krebs, “That’s according to two recent reports from the European ATM Security Team (EAST), an organization that collects ATM fraud reports from countries in the region. In both reports, EAST said one country (it isn’t naming which) alerted them about a new form of skimming device that is thin enough to be inserted directly into the card reader slot. These devices record the data stored on the magnetic stripe on the back of the card as it is slid into a compromised ATM. Another EAST report released this week indicates that these insert skimmers are continuing to evolve. Below are two more such devices. Insert skimmers require some secondary component to record customers entering their PINs, such as a PIN pad overlay or hidden camera.”

Hopefully this modus operandi will be able to be countered by ATMs around the world soon, otherwise do expect to hear and read about increases in credit card fraud cases.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: atm