Saturday, September 25, 2010

ATM Skimmers in Action

From Wired Magazine,

Authorities in Europe have seized a nice video recorded by a group of carders showing the criminals installing a skimming device and hidden camera at an ATM in the United Kingdom to steal customer PINs. Filmed from the hidden pinhole camera itself, installed above the ATM, the video shows how easy it is to capture the PINs as customers enter them on the keypad. But a few wily customers, who are wise to the carders’ tricks, manage to thwart their scheme by shielding the keypad as they type in their number.


2 comments:

Patricia Kehoe said...

So, were the customers who shielded their keystrokes aware of the camera or just in the habit of being sneaky with their pins? I am surprised that the ATM hardware is that easy to dismantle... I feel like there should be an alarm that goes off within the bank when it is being tampered with, like when the criminals attached the skimmer.

Margot Allen said...

I remember seeing this video in class and calling my dad after it ended. I always used to think he was extremely paranoid for always blocking his pin number and for all of the other extra security measures he takes. He was really happy when I called and told him I no longer thought he was crazy. I am a visual learner and this video really helped drive home the point that this could actually happen to me and people I know.

I agree with Patricia that it was unclear if the people were hiding their pins from people standing near them. But it did look there were a few people who just covered the keypad from above. I also agree that there should be some sort of security feature in ATMs that can detect if it is being tampered with.