By John Campbell

Debit card “skimmers” no longer need to look over your shoulders to steal your vulnerable debit card or ATM account information. They can get the all the information they need right from the ATM itself.

That’s right. Any ATM you use could now be rigged to send your debit card number and your personal identification number (PIN) to prying eyes. Now, here’s even more bad news. This type of fraud is on the rise and may continue to be a problem for many years to come. With a few high tech tools and nobody watching, a thief can easily make modifications to most ATMs with a minimum of hassle.

A debit card skimming device, which may be indistinguishable from any average ATM card slot, can easily be affixed to most ATM card slots with a minimum of effort. Once you slide your card into the slot, the ATM machine reads your account number encoded on the magnetic strip on your card. If there’s an attached skimming device, the skimmer records that same information.

Without knowing your PIN, a debit card counterfeiter won’t be able to withdraw money from your account at any ATM. Of course, credit card skimmers have devised another devious way to get this information from you directly. A hidden camera, often hidden within a fake pamphlet holder on the ATM, may be recording your fingers typing in your PIN. Wireless transmitters in both devices could be sending your data, along with a recording of your keystrokes, to a nearby parking lot where the thief is sitting in a car downloading the data directly into a laptop computer.

Once the thief sees the video of your PIN keystrokes and “clones” your debit card, your attached bank accounts will be wide open for plundering. With the right equipment, the thief could easily make a counterfeit debit card and proceed with cleaning out your accounts within minutes. Your next trip to the ATM could be far costlier than you ever anticipated. Luckily, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and put a serious dent in a skimmer’s criminal operations.

The first thing you need to do is avoid using unmonitored ATMs that are right out in the open. Skimmers are more prone to prey upon unmonitored ATMs. If surveillance cameras and other personnel can see an ATM at all times, it will be a much riskier task for a thief to hook up his equipment. You should never assume any ATM is safe, however. There are things you can look for on the ATM itself that may indicate it’s wired for fraud.

Visually inspect every ATM you use. If something seems out of place it may very well be. Watch out for the following:

• Card readers that look more bulky than they should

• Pamphlet holders that seem to be in an odd position

• Pamphlet holders that aren’t firmly affixed to the ATM machine

• Any equipment on the ATM that doesn’t match the look of everything else (different coloring, unusual looking panels, plastic, etc.)

• Any text printed on the ATM that is covered up or obscured by another part of the machine

If anything looks out of place, report it immediately. Either notify the ATM owner or call any 1-800 numbers listed on the machine. The time you take to report anything suspicious could save you and a lot of other people from the horror of a wiped out bank account. Each of us can prevent debit card skimming, both low and high tech, by keeping our eyes open and looking out for anything that seems out of place. With ATM machines, high tech thieves no longer need to be two steps ahead of us.

© cashbuzz.com
John Campbell is the writer and editor of CashBuzz, A financial portal for the rest of us. Check out cashbuzz.com for the latest articles on money management and tips and tricks that can help improve your finances. This article may be reprinted on your Web site if the copyright, author information and active link are included.