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Criminals Are Now Stealing Your Debit Card Info Outside Of ATMs

Using a clever new technique, "foreign gangs" are attempting to steal your debit card information and the last $64 in your checking account. According to CBS, the criminals set up card skimmers on the outside of the ATM entrance, so when you swipe your card to enter the kiosk, your information has been stolen. Asked if the scanners can be identified with the naked eye, a Yonkers police sergeant said, "Absolutely not." Remember when people used to physically remove your wallet on the subway? Ahh, the good old days.

A separate, tiny camera atop the ATM itself, the thieves can clone your debit card and use it to withdraw cash or make purchases. The money is usually laundered overseas. One 20-year-old Romanian has been arrested, but the police have noted that he's not cooperating, and say there's nothing we can do to prevent debit card identity theft aside from protecting our PIN.

"We're looking for the individual who has the expertise and the mechanical background to develop the devices and wire them properly, and the person who is charged with laundering the funds out of the US and to Eastern Europe," a Secret Service agent says. However, the criminals who charge $3.00 to make a withdrawal that costs 36 cents remain at large.

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Comments [rss]

  • yse

    I always cover the pin pad with my other hand/wallet when I'm entering my pin number.  It won't help in the event that there is a fake key pad recording my entries, but it will help in the case where there is a camera on top of the ATM which watches me enter my pin.

  • maritov

    Simple: use one card (like a credit card) to enter the ATM vestibule and then withdraw money with a different card.

  • Emmily_Litella

    STOP Using the USURERS plastic.  Problem solved.  You need plastic for non essentials and ‘impulse’ purchases. 

  • Unkle_Bob

    Whether you use cash or plastic has nothing to do with the necessity of the purchase.

  • I would like to scan the phone number of the second one from the left

  • I always skim my finger across any slot I'm about to stick a credit card into, but I realize how futile that is...

  • here's a tip, those scanners to get into the bank seem to work with any card at all.   Maybe just use an expired card that is no longer active

  • TuraLura

    That's excellent advice, thanks!

  • MattyGC

    We're talking about bank fees here right? I mean, what's the difference?

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