Low Lifes Get High Tech

I've heard about this before, but after looking at the photos I'm astounded at the lengths people go to in order to steal your hard earned money.

ATM "Skimming" is a way of stealing your ATM card information in order to duplicate the card and empty out your bank account. As you can see in the photo I've copied from the University of Texas at Austin Police Department website, a device is mounted onto the bank or gas station card reader. Meanwhile, a camera is also hidden nearby to view your pin number being entered in. Somewhere nearby the bank is a van or car that is wirelessly receiving all that info so later on the crooks can copy your card and have your pin number to use it.

I first heard about this from Clark Howard's newsletter, and it's on there that they recommend shaking the ATM reader a bit to see if it comes off. The idea is that these things are meant to be installed and removed quickly, so it should be easy to shake free. If you happen to come across such a device, stop what you're doing and let the bank, gas station or police know immediately! And keep an eye out for any vehicle that suddenly takes off from nearby, because that's likely to be the jack asses who put the device on!

Some other advice that I could offer is that instead of making a habit of using ATM's to withdraw cash, just get cash back when you're inside the store buying something. Be careful about paying at the pump though...that's pretty easy to not pay attention at!

-ic