@Jevia: Interesting. And what's to keep a shady employee from attaching a skimmer from one of these hand-held devices? Or, better yet, just use their own machine for some of the transactions?

@layton59: "Tip On Table" written in is an excellent idea! I'll have to remember that one, because I've had them write in a bogus tip before, or actually, they altered the amount I wrote in. Grr.

@Sudonum: You're right, Sudonum. I'm married to an information security manager for a fortune 50 company...the horror stories he could tell you... Let's just say that this isn't the worst out there. Folks have other ways of getting information from stores without ever leaving their cars in the first place.

I'm not saying it's not a good idea, just that unless you build a restaurant from scratch it's not cost effective. Even with a chain restaurant they have a boxed implementation approach with connections to the home office inventory management and sales reporting systems. Introducing new tech into that costs them more money in hardware, software integration, training, and customer service costs when orders go bad and a meal or two needs to be comped.

I'm not an EE (although I dabbled with it in College) and even *I* have enough knowledge to construct a magswpie reader/writer from nothing more than the parts you'd find in an old transistor radio (or five). You know, inductors, capacitors, resistors, transistors, etc.

The keypad reader is so easy it's beyond a joke to implement.

The video camera is tougher to replicate, since it requires a CCD. Of course, unless you want to ban all home video cameras and security cameras, I wouldn't need to worry much.

And the smartcards are actually easier to read/write, since they use a very standard interface (one that hooks indirectly up to a standard serial port)*. OF COURSE, banks use two-way encryption and other tactics that would make duplicating a card (supposedly) impossible. Which is unlike the magswipe, which you can actually duplicate with an iron. Yes, an iron.

* - I know how easy these are as I have actually built a smartcard (CAM) reader/writer from spare parts. It required an ATMEGA chip and some firmware for it downloaded from the internet. For those in the know, that should be enough...

So, banning the hardware is about as effective as banning paper and pencil during a war so people can't communicate with the enemy.

For years, I have routinely covered the keypad with one hand and punched in numbers beneath - including a few "phony" actions to throw off the scent.

Cheaper than getting busted...

The only way to protect yourself is to protect your PIN. When using your ATM/Check Card/Credit Card shield your entry with your other hand and body. Someone could be watching you enter your pin from behind. They can't do anything with card info without the PIN. Don't forget to do this when using a POS or ATM.

@layton59: Not every restaurant has a cashier, however. What I don't understand is why America doesn't use the hand-held devices they have in Europe (well, in France at least). When you want to pay, the waiter brings the hand-held scanner and puts in the amount, you scan in your card, indicate if its debit or credit, push PIN if necessary, then accept the amount. A receipt prints out, which you can then add on the tip and you sign it. Your card never has to leave your hand.

@verucalise: Stewarts: the happiest place on earth, and supposedly one of the few places around here where sales are up. Now if only they'd bring back Chocolate Butter Almond...

@batsy: Same arguement could be made for the Nigerian email scammers who spend hundreds of hours trolling for victims.

But the payout could end up being hundreds of thousands of dollars that some embezelling US based church accountant sends to a scammer who could only make $200 a month working legally in his country.

@Brawndo_The_Thirst_Mutliator:

True statement; though it's more like gambling - most eventually get caught and on average lose money over working legitimately would have paid off.

Of course, I mostly bank on a military base. They'd be really interested in any of this stuff. Too many bored cops. Plus they get to wave the 'federal' conviction stick around. I still check though.

@FuryOfFirestorm: The "hidden tracking devices" only work on TV because they are fake...and they are very small on TV for the same reason.

This is just like it only takes 2 hours to process DNA results on TV versus the 2 to 4 weeks in the real world- with a "rush" on it.

@threeoutside: I always pay for my meal at the cash register. Some restaurants do not like that because of deadbeats walking out on the bills. If the waiter/waitress has a problem, then insist they walk you to the cashier. That makes both sides of the transaction safer. I also write "Tip On Table" on the tip line when I leave the tip on the table, so that they can not go back and add in a bogus tip.

@wardawg: After you swipe and input info into the really small machine, the stewarts employee has to input their own code- I was told this was to verify the amount I was asking for was available within the register, and also what employee cashed it out. They also initial the original receipt and give it to you, they keep the copy.

The machine I use to swipe my card is completely different from the machine that prints out the receipt.

No one's asked this here, so I will: How, exactly, do I make sure my credit card never leaves my sight in a restaurant? Follow the waiter back to the back and watch him use it? Or better yet, insist that I perform the credit card procedure myself? I've read this many times over the years and I've never seen a good answer.

@sega8800: Sure you can; just pretend to be a klutz.

I used to work for a security company that dealt with these types of cameras and can tell you that you're giving the thieves too much credit; a damn BASEBALL CAP pulled really low is enough to defeat them. Same goes for bank security cameras that are placed on the top of wall/ceilings or corners.

ERrmm.. yeah.. restrict the hardware.. because NO ONE else in the world needs to read magnetic stripes... You see these everywhere.. gift cards, door access, computer authentication...

Limiting access to the hardware isn't the answer. Heck, my standard dell laptop has a built-in smart card reader that newer credit cards use.

Except Card Readers have more uses then CC and Debit card readers and banning them won't solve anything, I am sure most of them are already made in China anyway.

@Sunny Yeung: I work for a bank and we remotely installed a software that does just that. It shakes the card on the way into the reader in an effort to ruin the skimmer's read. ATM skimming losses were down over 40% the first month. Apparently it's not 100% foolproof.

True, but most skimmers don't to keep size down.

The same can be said for checks bought at an office supply store or third party company, there is no need and fraud increases. This is the type of stuff that the government needs to be cracking down on.

The next time someone reports these to the police, the cops should leave the skimmers alone, except for the addition of a hidden tracking device. When the thief comes for the skimmer, the police can track him home and catch him. As a bonus, they'll probably find out all the other crimes/scams the asshole is running...

@Applekid: I know. I'm already paranoid enough. My boyfriend is even worse. I don't know if I should send him the article or not.

@Oligarch_GitEmSteveDave:

Ha, same here. "You smell like the inside of my mama's purse."

Also I lolled at the "BANCO REAL" card next to the fake key input thingy.

Guy walks into the bank and says "Hey, I read about skimmers & camera's, and seen this camera pointed towards the ATM, so I ripped it out and here it is".

Bank: "That was our security camera. You do know you will have to pay for that."

Guy: "Opps..."

@BeerManMike:

All they'd have to do was walk up to the atm at night & stick them in place. Wearing a skimask hides their identity.

If some do, then deal with it.

FUCK THIS, I'M GONNA GO BACK TO BED AND WATCH CARTOONS. FLAPJACK IS ON.

GIGGLES AND BEER, PEOPLE. GIGGLES AND BEER.

I still don't see how they can "install" these without being caught.

We have Stewarts gas stations around us, and they don't have ATM's per say. They have the little machine you swipe the card and put your PIN into and request the amount of money, and the cash is given to you out of the register by the cashier. The machine is right next to the register, and although not 100% foolproof- I feel safer using it. It's also only $1 to use it.

My credit union is usually the only place I use the ATM beyond Stewarts- I'm familiar with the machine so I'd probably notice something amiss pretty easily. It's probably safest to use an ATM within a bank if you can, where they are least likely to fiddle with the machine.