Watch out for these super-thin ATM skimmers

These new automated teller machine (ATM) skimmers are not just meaner, they're also much leaner.

 

Using advances in criminal tech, the new generation of ATM skimmers threatens to be invisible except to the most discerning eye, security researcher Brian Krebs said.

 

Citing a new report from the European ATM Security Team, Krebs said mini-skimmers can now capture the data in an ATM card’s magnetic stripe as the card is inserted into the ATM.

 

"While most card skimmers are made to sit directly on top of the existing card slot, these newer mini-skimmers fit snugly inside the card reader throat, obscuring most of the device," he said.

 

Working in tandem with such skimmers is a tiny spy camera to record a victim's PIN.

 

Still another skimmer is translucent and can fit into an ATM's card acceptance slot.

 

mobile-powered, MP3-based skimmers

 

Yet another slim skimmer is powered by what Krebs said "looks like either a cannibalized MP3 player or mobile phone."

 

"Mobile-powered skimmers allow thieves to have the stolen card data relayed via text message, meaning they never need to return to the scene of the crime once the skimmer is in place," he said.

 

On the other hand, he said MP3-based skimmers capture card data as audio and decode them using specialized software.

 

US vulnerable

 

Krebs noted the United States is the last of the G-20 nations that has yet to transition to the chip & PIN system.

 

This means ATM hackers in Europe "will ship the stolen card data over to thieves ... in the U.S., who then can encode the stolen card data onto fresh (chipless) cards and pull cash out of the machines here and in Latin America," he said.

 

Protection

 

Yet, Krebs said one of the best protections is to simply "cover the PIN pad when you enter your digits."

 

"Still, you’d be surprised at how few ATM users actually take this simple but effective precaution," he said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News