Tuesday, July 13, 2010

If you use ATM's and such . . .

COMPUTER WORLD reports that "Bluetooth at heart of gas station credit-card scam in Southeast":

Thieves are stealing credit-card numbers through skimmers they secretly installed inside pumps at gas stations throughout the Southeast, using Bluetooth wireless to transmit stolen card numbers, according to law enforcement officials.

Keep your eyes open: some enterprising sociopath should have 'em available in your neighbourhood before long. Skimmers, or shims, are bleeding-edge hi-tech in circuitry fabrication. NETWORK WORLD has some details, with an article by Jamey Heary, "Newest Attack on your Credit Card: ATM Shims":

Shimming is the newest con designed to skim your credit card number, PIN and other info when you swipe your card through a reader like an ATM machine. The shim is the latest attack being used by criminals to steal your credit card info at the ATM or other Pin Entry Device. According to Diebold, " The criminal act of card skimming results in the loss of billions of dollars annually for financial institutions and card holders. Card skimming threatens consumer confidence not only in the ATM channel, but in the financial institutions that own compromised ATMs as well."

No comments: