ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS cover your hands when you type in your PIN.

The people using these skimmers NEED two pieces of information for access to your funds, your debit card info and your PIN #. They can get the PIN by hidden camera or even just looking like an innocent stranger behind you looking over your shoulder. It's not even funny how easy it is to get a simple four digits that will destroy your life outside of your hands.

again, ALWAYS cover your PIN# when typing it in.

The most sophisticated skimmers come with built-in GSM, transmitting the card data and PIN pad photos as they are captured. The criminal doesn't need to come back until it's time to replace the battery, or maybe not even then -- There's one that mounts *inside* a pay-at-the-pump gas pump which gets parasitic power from the system it's piggybacked into!

"IF THE CARD SLOT DOES NOT RESEMBLE THE PICTURE BELOW, DO NOT INSERT YOUR CARD"

And on the screen is a picture of what the real card slot should look like. This struck me as the best solution to skimmers, much better than putting up a poster or having the bank stick on their own weird slot-protector protrusion.

maybe with the banks converting from wamu to chase more crooks are getting the time to set these things up.

I have to go more frequently in the summer -- farmer's market is cash-only -- and I have to remember to make a special trip to the bank before we travel so we have cash on hand when we travel. But it's not a big deal.

I do occasionally find myself caught short when I'm at a bar or something that's cash only. But this is why God gave us friends with cash. They know I'm good for it. Also, I blame them for making me go to a cash-only bar. I mean, srsly?

In this case the problem is physical security and how you would make an atm so that people couldn't something onto the card slot.

Thankfully I have parents who loaned me rent for a couple of days while the bank took their sweet-a time returning the funds.

Actually, the story at Gizmodo says he was inside the Chase bank at the time. I'd guess this ATM is in the lobby or inside a foyer area.

@econobiker: PLus yourisk getting shot . Say if its a gang related scam and not one person doing it.

Generally the bank takes the losses on these withdrawals because it is more cost efficient to pay it out to the customer without prosecuting anyone meaning the bank can lose hundreds if not thousands on each customer that this happens to.

Satellite TV companies have been doing this since the dawn of time. If the system is compromised, they reissue the cards to each subscriber. The banks don't care since they have nothing to lose - it's just a write off.

So start off with a crappy phone camera, then coat the lens with fingerprints, smudge from your greasy hair, and drippings from the french fries in your pocket. Blurry pictures are pretty much guaranteed then.

I'm guessing the same Diebold division that designs "security" for their voting machines is also in charge of making their ATMs "skimmer resistant." Both seem about as effective.

People look at me funny when I say I don't use ATMs, but it's been years* since I used one and it really doesn't create a problem for me.

*I actually do use ATMs overseas; it's often a cheaper conversion, even with the fees, and it's good to know you have access to foreign cash when exchanges and banks might not be open. But I haven't used one in the states since about 2002.

Not really questioning the legitimacy..just thought that was odd.

Jesus christ...won't you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE put the subject of your photos in proper focus, at the least?

Its likely that somone found a flaw in the WAMU/Chase system and has passed around info which makes targeting the system more appealing, so there is a surge in placement of the devices.

It would be easy to put up your own poster, and then bing!, I got JGKojak's card stripe and PIN.

How do you reduce your risk? It seems that you're rolling the dice when you use a credit card at an ATM. Is a debit card safe? Are you safe is you limit yourself to your ATM card at your own bank's ATM?

This scares the sh*t out of me.

F-it dude, let's go bowling.

@wildhare11: Um, hate to break it to you but most street level police don't have a clue about information security and crimes.

If a traditional "give me the money" bank robbery is in progress they know what to do and have been trained.

If you show up with a skimmer pulled from an ATM the cops don't have the training to understand it is just the same as a pickpocket. The idea is to recognize the skimmer, leave it in place and then call them. Then the patrol man will rip it off himself and allow the criminals to go free versus staking it out.

@gerrylum: Which will be a good thing. As consumerist readers we are privy to this information, and are able to protect ourselves from these types of scams. But I don't know one single person who has ever heard of the Consumerist. (Or gizmodo for that matter)

If Brian Williams talks about it though, then you can bet that the word will get out.

Now I wonder if he wasn't a victim of skimming, and that's how his account was hacked. It says that one of these skimmers was found at a WaMu branch in LA; he works in LA.

This has sure made me aware of the problem of skimmers!

Chase is probably installing them themselves to pay back the govt.

My thought is that the skimmer criminals figure more people are now using cash due to the down economy...

ALL companies that have ANY sort of credit card reader should be REQUIRED to have a picture of what he front of the machine looks like--specifically, the card reader. This picture should be prominently placed on the machine in such a way that it cannot be easily covered.

The picture would show what the card reader SHOULD look like, and say "if the card reader below does NOT look like this picture, DO NOT USE THE MACHINE! Someone may have attached an unauthorized device," etc. etc.

This would solve the problem pretty quickly. Yes, there are probably a few rough edges to this idea that need to be fully thought out, but overall this would help.

I think the reason you don't see more of these is that is is a quick crime. Person A puts a skimmer on an ATM at a busy time of day. Person B - Y use ATM, skimmer collects info. Person Z collects skimmer and gets info on the other 24 people. Repeat at several ATMs throughout the area and collect a lot of info.

I think many people are thinking that the person has to leave the skimmer there for days when that's probably just not the case.

[timedoctor.org]

Why do you think so few banks have been hit by card skimmers? They've been widely regarded as urban legends simply because it's so difficult to actually find one. Most banks have cameras surveying their equipment and specialists who perform routine inspections. It's not like installing a skimmer is a simple task.

Seriously I was gonna say...

ISN'T IT INCUMBENT UPON BANKS TO PROTECT THEIR EQUIPMENT FROM SKIMMERS???

I mean, they don't just leave a door open all night with an invitation to cut the padlock to the bank's vault! Seems like this is too easy. Perhaps someone should be asking the people at the banks what the deal is, and perhaps ask that they invest in a little security. Maybe put up a poster of what their ATM is SUPPOSED to look like for starts?

We'll find out the banks are installing the skimmers to make extra money off of us, since we're in a recession.

For the banks it's a win/win situation!