Scammer Plants a Fake ATM At Defcon 17

Groo Wanderer writes "Normally, a well-crafted fake ATM would skim a lot of card information before it was noticed, if it was ever noticed at all. Because it is safer for the criminals and harder to prosecute, financial crimes like this are spreading fast. If you are smart, you don't try to pull one off in the middle of a computer security convention where the attendees are very good at spotting such scams. That said, some not-so-bright criminal tried to plant a fake ATM at Defcon. He now has one less fake ATM and a whole lot of investigators on his tail."

Defcon 5 isn't peaceful enough

[Anonymous Coward]

I know we've been pulling out of Iraq, but going down to Defcon 17 just seems ridiculous.

Pedant Warning!

[ZackSchil]

Article contains the terms "ATM Machine" and "PIN Number". Read at your own risk.

Fake ATMs

[girlintraining]

They make it sound like this was done by criminals. Who's to say it wasn't really a job offer in disguise? ;) "First person here to notice this gets a job offer."

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, like we are going to RTFA the farking article.

Re:Complete FAIL for eveyone, including law enforc

[e9th]

I think the real fail was the cops hauling the machine away without asking for help from the Defcon attendees. Sort of like a guy having a heart attack at a cardiologists convention and the cops keeping everybody back until an ambulance can arrive and take him to a hospital.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[MeatBag PussRocket]

***WOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHH***

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Mononoke]

Read at your own risk.

At whom else's risk would I read it?

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Minwee]

Maybe it is referring to the other, NSFW definition of ATM. This is a hotel in Las Vegas, you know.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[MaskedSlacker]

Asynchronous Transfer Mode? (Imagining that as a sexual euphemism gives me all kinds of degrading ideas)

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Anonymous Coward]

Modded redundant! One can almost taste the poetic justice.

Re:Complete FAIL for eveyone, including law enforc

[Xemu]

I think the real fail was the cops hauling the machine away without asking for help from the Defcon attendees.

The true FAIL was the Defcon attendees failing to spot and realize that the cops hauling the machines away were fake, and the ATM was real.

Re:Epic Fail

[EdIII]

One wonders if it wasn't just bait to get security to tip their hand for a more thought out caper.

Been watching Oceans Eleven have we?

Re:Pedant Warning!

[rlseaman]

Would you really prefer "AT Machine" and "PI Number"?

Re:Complete FAIL for eveyone, including law enforc

[e9th]

So you think of it more like finding a bomb at an explosives convention. Fair enough -- the cops were probably worried about some guy in the back yelling whatever the ATM equivalent of, "Cut the BLUE wire!" is. ;)

Re:Damn, I wish I noticed it...

[Vectronic]

Yeah? and I climb rainbows for a living... with our powers combined, we form Captain Planet.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[johncadengo]

I can just imagine the conversations...

"Honey, I'm at the at machine, but I forgot my pi number."
"Daniel [wikipedia.org] babe, its 3141 you should know this by now."

Re:Pedant Warning!

[sconeu]

But I *want* an Automatic ATM Machine and a Personal PIN Number!

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Anonymous Coward]

By your logic, "r u going 2 da store" is properly formed English.

Re:Complete FAIL for eveyone, including law enforc

[e9th]

You're taking this more seriously than I am, but OK.

Shouldn't the police assume that the victim at the cardiologists convention had been injected with KCl or adenosine+lidocaine by one of the attendees, and thus wait for independent medical professionals to arrive rather than allowing "random individuals" to act? After all, allowing others access to the guy might cloud any subsequent investigation.

That's certainly a win-win for the cops -- if they delay treatment and the guy dies, their investigation has gone from attempted murder to murder, a plus, and their evidence hasn't been tainted, another plus.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[machine321]

So, in Canada, if you're going to steal a money-dispensing machine, you tell people you're going to take a BM?

Re:Pedant Warning!

[v1]

You just need to learn more aboot the language before you visit.

Learn your redundancies...

[faffod]

Yeah, like we are going to RTFA the farking article.

That's pretty redundant

No, it's redundant redundant. Pretty redundant is when someone reposts a picture to usenet.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[ikkonoishi]

The real one is worse.
http://www.all-acronyms.com/cat/9/ATM [all-acronyms.com]

"Abbreviatiated text messaging" *shudder*

Re:Pedant Warning!

[theshowmecanuck]

That's the 'warsh room' to you buddy. ;-)

Re:Pedant Warning!

[thesandtiger]

I'm baffled by this...

Where were you in the US that people didn't know what a bathroom was? I mean that seriously - I've never in my life met someone who spoke English with at least medium facility who didn't know the terms "bathroom" "toilet" "restroom" "powder room" or "washroom," or any number of other more slangy terms for it. "WC" is a little less common in the US, but still generally understood.

And "Bank Machine" isn't a common term over here, but where were you that people weren't able to figure it out? If they were also completely flummoxed by "bath room" I'm going to guess it was an area where lead paint chips were a regional delicacy? Or was this so long ago that the devices were unknown to many? I did go on a trip to Oklahoma some years back where kids would actually ask if they could watch me use "the magic money machine," but those were children in a VERY small town, the machines were a novelty in many larger areas, and the kids in question were about 6-8 years old.

I absolutely don't mean to come off as hostile - I'm honestly amazed and curious.

Re:Complete FAIL for eveyone, including law enforc

[stephanruby]

No, the true FAIL was that none of the Defcon attendees took pictures of the people servicing the ATM. For security reasons that's the new rule, if you see an ATM being serviced -- you have to take your cell phone and take a picture of whomever is doing the servicing [pulse2.com].

Re:Pedant Warning!

[PitViper401]

hey I love ping pong!

Re:Pedant Warning!

[saleenS281]

That's A2M.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[nacturation]

That's the 'warsh room' to you buddy. ;-)

Yes, if you're retarded or from the Maritimes, but I repeat myself.

<Groundskeeper Willie voice>Auch! No doot aboot it, lad!</Groundskeeper Willie voice>

Re:Pedant Warning!

[nacturation]

Lastly he said "Please direct me to your nearest porcelain receptacle that I may initiate peristalsis and thus deposit my faeces therein."

On a related note, there's those baby wipes called "Baby Faces" and I so which I could photoshop those in real life and add an "e" to make it "Baby Faeces".

Re:Defcon 5 isn't peaceful enough

[Tubal-Cain]

I would put world peace at around 8.

10 would be a massive party with excessive amounts of alcohol.

12 would have half of them die of various overdoses.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Achromatic1978]

On a related note, there's those baby wipes called "Baby Faces" and I so which I could photoshop those in real life and add an "e" to make it "Baby Faeces".

Don't even start me on the portable toilets called "Honey Bucket"...

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Tubal-Cain]

"powder room" and "washroom" would confuse me (the terms are never used 'round here) but not understanding "bathroom" must have required very special medical treatment [wikipedia.org].

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Tubal-Cain]

Um...Congratulations?

Re:Complete FAIL for eveyone, including law enforc

[Dan541]

They could have covertly had an undercover agent place an "out of order" sign on it;

Really, I'd replace the computer inside the ATM with a Ninja.

Pirates

[dna_(c)(tm)(r)]

Not if you were a pirate on a galleon. They'd understand where the black powder is stored, that you need room to wash ashore - and they very probably never heared about baths and rooms to place them in.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[vorlich]

In Miami City, when I lived there, I went down to the deli/supermarket/minimarket that sells everything and had the following conversation:

VORLICH:[In his best Scottish Grammar School English] "and can I have four AA batteries, please?"
SALESGUY: "Y'Wot?"
VORLICH: [speaking slower and pointing directly to them] "Four AA Batteries, please."
SALESGUY: "Y'Wot?"
VORLICH: "Four AA badderees, please."
SALESGUY: "Aw, why'd y'not say that?

Re:Pedant Warning!

[ATMD]

Of course, whether you get to do any is another matter.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Anonymous Coward]

What we all share is the ability to introspect the cognitive cost of figuring out "WTH Hell is this dude trying to convey?"

Fixed that for you.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[Muad'Dave]

<Steve Martin Voice>Donde esta casa de pepe?</Steve Martin Voice>

Re:What's the alternative?

[sorak]

Tom's Law:
Any word, acronym, or expression you don't understand, is about sex.

Corollary:
Your company's web filter WILL block it.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[blueskies]

NYC?

Sodder me sideways

[ciderVisor]

My fave was the Yank pronounciation of 'solder' ("sodder"). To this Brit, it sounded like a cross between sodomize and bugger (which mean the same thing). I always cracked up when people asked if I could "sodder" a circuit board for them.

Re:Pedant Warning!

[jtownatpunk.net]

Can I touch you for a fag?

Re:Pedant Warning!

[BronsCon]

like a redundant reuse of similar duplicate terms that mean the same thing?

Re:Pedant Warning!

[theshowmecanuck]

I get a kick out of those TV commercials where they anthropomorphize the toilet paper and have them as happy little pillows dancing around. I wonder to myself how much they will be smiling once I wipe shit all over their faces.