What’s an ATM Skimmer?

An ATM skimmer is basically a malicious device that criminals attach to an ATM machine. This device creates a copy of your card and captures your PIN when entering it. An ATM skimmer has two components that you need to be aware of. The first is a small device inserted over the ATM card slot. When you insert your ATM card, the device creates a copy of the data on the magnetic strip of your card. The second part of the device is a camera, which is placed somewhere it can see the keypad. Normally, its placed at the top of the ATM’s screen, above the number pad or even to the side of the pad. The point of the camera is to capture you entering the PIN on the keypad.

With this information retrieved attackers can use this data to program a bogus ATM card and withdraw money from your account.

ATM skimmers are becoming more and more sophisticated. Meaning, a device can be small enough and unnoticeable to be inserted into the card slot and you not knowing it’s there.

Check this out, attackers can also use overlay keyboards, which is a fake keypad that is fitted over the real keypad. When you press a button on the fake keypad, it logs the button you pressed and presses the real button underneath. These are harder to detect.

If you are frequent user of an ATM machine you should be aware of these attacks. It’s often easy to spot an ATM skimmer or at least protect your PIN so an ATM skimmer won’t be able to capture it.

Well, take a quick look around the ATM before withdrawing money and keep these four tips in mind:

#1 – Jiggle the card reader: make sure it doesn’t move around if it does something isn’t right.

#2 – Look at the ATM machine: does anything look a bit out-of-place? Check the panel of the keypad and make sure it isn’t loose.

#3 – Examine the keypad: does it look or feel a bit too thick or out of place.

#4 – Check for cameras

If you find something wrong with ATM machine be sure to alert the bank or business in charge of the ATM machine. Okay, you’re following the four tips mentioned, but you should always do the following two things to protect yourself.

#1 – shield your PIN with your hand: this won’t protect you against the most sophisticated skimmers that use keypad overlays, but you will be able to stop cameras from capturing your PIN.

#2 – monitor your bank account transactions: you should regularly check your back accounts and credit cards to make sure nothing suspicious is taken out.

To learn more about this terrifying topic, check out the link at the description.