Visual Autopsy Of An ATM Card Skimmer 880
Bert64 writes "A chap at work was recently the victim of an ATM card skimmer which took his card details, cloned them and allowed the fraudster to take 550 pounds out of his account.
Having tried to explain how the fraudsters can hide a camera and card reader around the ATM, he decided it would be easier to show one of them after a few drinks down the pub.
He was a little surprised to find that the machine he chose had a card reader and camera in place. These were removed and analysed, we believe we have reclaimed about 800 pounds worth of kit. Result:
Pictures."
hunh... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's silly (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:hunh... (Score:3, Insightful)
The captions, while semi-helpful, left a lot unanswered...
OK, OK, I was using the mirror because the original was already in /. heaven... Maybe the original site had more detail?
Re:Convenience or security... (Score:5, Insightful)
The skimmer is attached to any arbitrary machine without the cooperation of the ATM owner.
So they can hit even your own bank's machines, if they so desire.
This is the best ATM scam since... well... the last ATM scam, where they put a complete ATM machine in place. Except they got caught because they tried to stiff their ATM machine supplier.
Questionably Legal?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Here is what I do (Score:5, Insightful)
1. If you can, go to a supermarket or any store nearby that gives you cashback on your debit card. I can buy a pack of gum instead of paying stupid ATM fee AND get cashback with NO risk.
2. Use your credit card to withdraw cash (but make sure that you pay it in the next billing cycle as cash withdrawls have very high APR) as the liability on credit cards is very low.
This only works with poorly designed ATMs (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a feeling these card skimmers only work on specific models of ATMs (most likely, the little privately owned units you see in restaurants and gas stations, as opposed to actual bank-owned ATMs).
Re:Easy as Ebay (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Convenience or security... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not so sure about that. When something similar happened in Norway some time ago, the police was alerted and put the place under surveillance. The culprits were caught in the act of removing the devices.
I think the people who removed it should have done the same, thus helping to catch the bastards. For all they knew, the place could already be under surveillance, giving THEM the blame for the crime...
Re:Easy as Ebay (Score:5, Insightful)
What a good post 9-11 American citizen. You are right in calling it 'questionably' legal, unfortunately (for you) the answer to the question is yes it is legal. The government does not need to put Laws on everything that can do bad things, the laws should instead target bad things. DVD recorders should not be illegal...selling (or even just giving) a burned DVD of Star Wars should be illegal. Having a magnetic card reader is a great exercise in driver writing and or learning about it for POS apps (not piece of s&^t apps).
Re:That's silly (Score:4, Insightful)
Alternative approach (Score:5, Insightful)
Hate to be a party pooper but didn't you consider leaving it there and calling the cops ?
If you had they might have been able to bust the individuals concerned and saved some innocents down the track a lot of grief.
This way you got 800 quid's worth of stolen electronics, the thief wrote off some capital investment and a couple of thousand /.'ers got some pre-pubescent excitement. Wahooo.
Interesting!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Like others here, I've become very leery of using ATM's located anywhere but at banks. I've been driving on long trips a great deal recently, and I've also learned to be a bit discerning about card-swipers in gas stations and even grocery stores I'm not familiar with. It seems a safer bet to hit a bank occasionally to withdraw my allotment of yuppie food coupons ($20 bills) and spend those instead.
Anne
Re:Death of the PIN (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately biometics violate one of the most basic principles of passwords... they can't be changed if compromised.
prevention ... (Score:5, Insightful)
The earliest versions simply had someone peering over your shoulder, or using a camera/telescope mounted up and behind and stealing the original.
Get in the habit of 'embedding' your PIN within a larger number. Type this longer number too lightly to casue the pressure sensor to register and varying your pressure only on the 'key' digits. It won't fool decent resolution or close observation, but given the angles/lighting conditions and cheaper digitial cameas that are starting to show up, I am guessing that they are going to have trouble working out which hits are the real McCoy.
Sure it relies on making your case more difficult than your neighbours, but to an extent that is all most locks and security devices do. Sure it's paranoid, and it does take some effort to set up, but muscle memory handles most of the work after a while and these days I only get a few false hits. YMMV
Re:Helping it spread... (Score:1, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:shouldn't ATM machines be designed better? (Score:5, Insightful)
The private key is never divulged yet the authenticity of the card is known. There is no way to scam the system other than steal the physical card and know what the pin is. These really need to be adopted soon.
Trap? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Mirror in case of /. (Score:4, Insightful)
The bank did not want to press charges as it would have been bad publicity. This was an easy decision for the bank as the criminal was going to be deported regardless.
Re:550 Pounds of money?!?!?!? (Score:1, Insightful)
It's new.
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This only works with poorly designed ATMs (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:notify authorities? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Mirror in case of /. (Score:1, Insightful)
This was an easy decision for the bank as the criminal was going to be deported regardless.
The downside is that they demonstrated you could get clean away with it, making it much more likely for others to attempt the same thing.
Re:Death of the PIN (Score:5, Insightful)
The advantage of a PIN over biometrics is that you can always change your PIN.
Once someone finds out how to fool a biometric scanner into returning your biological data; you're hosed. You can't gouge your own eyes out and replace them with new ones.
Any security system whose keys can't be changed is fatally flawed and should not be used -- ever.
Re:Mirror in case of /. (Score:3, Insightful)
How bloody stupid. If I were an ATM hacker, why on earth would I attack sketchy gas station ATMs? The real money is in the well-lit, polished, nice-smelling ATMs that make people feel comfy and safe.
Re:notify authorities? (Score:1, Insightful)
Other Outdoors Card Swipe Machines (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:550 Pounds of money?!?!?!? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Here is what I do (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:An idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, that shouldn't stop the bank from offering my optional security measures such as the ones you detailed above. Oh well.
Debit generally cheaper, mins are NG (Score:5, Insightful)
and
IIRC MC/V generally do not allow for minimum purchases for transactions - yes, the convenience store just lost 80 cents to make 20 on your pack of gum, but they just sold a case of beer or the 20 gallon truck fillup on 80 cents a minute ago. It more than evens out for most
and
If they are hand entering or mechanically imprinting your card, something's not normal, as they're the most expensive rates (as opposed to just swiping your card). Makes you go hmmmm...
Re:Here is what I do (Score:5, Insightful)
Why? CCs make a lot of money from these 1% or 2% they charge for ALL transactions. The difference is that when you use your CC at the store to buy something, the CC company charges the retailer this percentage. When you take out cash, they charge you.
So, whether you use a CC to buy stuff or not, you're still paying for it. Retailers spread the charge from the CC company by simply increasing prices for everyone.
Re:Dusting for Fingerprints (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Here is what I do (Score:3, Insightful)
US grocery stores are happy to do this, because it turns dirty, messy cash into nice clean electronic bits.
They are especially happy to get rid of 50s and 100s, which ATMs rarely carry.
For large withdrawals, groceries are better than ATMs. And they really are happy to get rid of physical cash.
--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
Re:Why use someone elses machine? (Score:2, Insightful)
I know a few people who have delved into the 3rd-party ATM business. Note to non-Canadians: by law the bank has to let authorized independents access the Interac system. You go through quite a bit of verification; it's no way to scam anyone.
You're kidding me? Quite a bit of verification? Anyone with the $$$ can get hooked up into an ATM network
The machines usually cost near $C 10K each, I suppose it's possible to buy one for half that used.
You can purchase brand-new ATM's for $2.5USD
The hard parts are:
You need a bunch to really make it worthwhile; one machine is too much trouble for the piddly returns you get.
One machine in a decent location will pull $1k/month easy.
They don't hold much cash; you have to refill often and it's going to be out-of-order (read: out of money) a lot if it's in a high-demand location. Try the 7-11 or a local bar.
Yeah, you drive-up with a trunk full of cash and re-fill the machine yourself, right? Loomis Fargo does it with these interesting things called "Amored Vans".
You have to somehow get a good location; usually this means giving a half-cut to the owner of the business you put it in. Indoors, locked at night, basically.
Hahaha, most people are happy to get a couple hundred bucks for a machine a month, 50% is outrageous
You have to have the cash to keep it full; you need a float of a couple grand a machine, minimum. More is better, saves trips to fill it up, but you can start with that and fill it twice a day if you have to, till you start making money.
You don't fill the machine with your *own* cash, what are you talking about? This business only requires you to lease/purchase a machine, not supply funds. That's what banks and cash replenishment services are for.
After you piece off your retail partner (for the location) you can gross 75cents a transaction. If it's really competitive (as it seems to be where I am) you might end up giving the store a buck to keep the machine on their premises. At 100 transactions a day, that's 75 bucks or less. A hundred transactions requires a float near 10K per machine, or alternately thrice-a-day refills.
The average machine cartidge carries $40,000.00 USD in it, where do you fill three times a day?
Now you know why you need to have a dozen or so to start; one machine is just as much trouble as 10, so you may as well make a full-time job of it.
Full-time job? Ahaha, this is passive income (minus establishing a location).
Most of your machines won't average that many transactions. A hundred a week is apparently more common (they're everywhere; and each new one siphons off some of your traffic).
The guys I know recently sold them off; the two of them had 8 altogether. Too competitive, the damn things are everywhere and many bar owners, gas stations and convenience stores just buy their own and keep the whole buck-and-a-half.
They didn't make a killing; but if you were really into it and got up to 20 machines the income would be enough to support a full-time person. Hardly lucrative, but an enterprising individual can do OK.
Your last comment hit the nail on the head
If you want the real scoop on this subject, I suggest you take a look at http://www.mag-card.com [mag-card.com]
ATM skimmers, also in brazil (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mirror in case of /. (Score:3, Insightful)
The "local news" is not "facts". The local news is entertainment.
The bank manager who handled your case is not very aware of the law, either.
If you have committed a crime, or you are suspect of a crime, no one has to "press" any charges. The police, aka the crown, can charge you directly. They can then force people to testify, whether or not they want to.
Because that's too hard for many people (Score:3, Insightful)
The real solution is two fold:
1) Better cards. This is the easiest and cheapest. Smart cards are almost impossible to fake since they can work on public key cryptography. Moving over to these would make it such that stealing their number wouldn't really be possible, at least not with a simple man-on-the-middle reader. This is something I think is likely to happen.
2) Biometrics. Add that to a card and a keycode, you've made it pretty hard. Now someone not only has to get your code, replicate your card, but also get and then fake your biometrics. Any one of these alone isn't particularly challenging, but all together would be a real pain.
Combine simple biometrics with smart cards and I think you'd find that high-tech ATM theft would dissappear. While the biometrics may never happen, the smart cards might. They are getting more and more popular.
Re:Questionably Legal??? (Score:3, Insightful)
... but who'll notice?
Re:Debit generally cheaper, mins are NG (Score:2, Insightful)
At least here in the US (WA state), debit fees are typically around $0.35, and credit card fees are around 1%. So if the purchase is under $35, it works out better for the store to run the card as a credit purchase. If over $35, it works out better to run it as a debit. (This assumes a debit card with a Visa/MC logo like most banks here give out now).
and you can shop around for a bank that allows unlimited monthly debit purchases.
There are banks that don't do this? What country do you live in again? Savages.
IIRC MC/V generally do not allow for minimum purchases for transactions.
I don't think they could really do anything about a minimum purchase requirement. Typically, a retailer is allowed to refuse service to anyone, for any reason (again, this is US-centric. Note that "any reason" does not include things like race). This reason may, however, include "customer has no cash and only wants to buy a $0.20 guitar pick and the transaction fee is going to be $0.35"
If they are hand entering or mechanically imprinting your card, something's not normal, as they're the most expensive rates (as opposed to just swiping your card). Makes you go hmmmm...
I have to hand enter cards all the time at my work... it's simply because customers do all manner of atrocities to their cards and then expect them to work. Stripe readers aren't good at what *was* there before the dog got ahold of the card, or the customer took a belt sander to it, or got bored and drew a tic-tac-toe board into the magstripe with a knife, or whatever. Usually, I'd say if a store (or especially more than one store) imprint your card or punch in the numbers by hand, you should call up your bank or whoever issued the card and say "HEY! Send me a new card!" Since they make money when you use your card, they will gladly send you a new one. There's no excuse for having a mangled worn magstripe on your card. Makes the retailer go "hmmmm.... damn lazy-ass customer making my line back up while I try to swipe his POS card."
Re:Centigrade is artificial, Fahrenheit is natural (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Easy as Ebay (Score:4, Insightful)
Chip and PIN (Score:3, Insightful)
Why yes. Which is why the UK is in the process of rolling out Chip and PIN [chipandpin.co.uk] (the trial [chipandpin.co.uk] was last summer). Over the next 18 months, every credit card - and probably most debit cards - in the UK will be replaced, along with upgrades to near enough every ATM and PoS device.
The major enforcement of this is the shifting of liability from the card schemes (MC, VISA and AMEX mostly) to anyone that doesn't comply. By 2006, finding anyone relying on magstripe will be less easy than currently finding someone relying on paper carbons.
IIRC, the verification takes place on the card. The ATM passes the PIN entered to the card, which simply responds pass|fail. No keys pass between reader and card, and the real PIN is held on-card with a sensible level of encryption.
It's a far cry from the Fresno Drop [fortune.com] of 1958.
OT: Given that:
I'm fairly gobsmacked that we're re-inventing the wheel here.
Re:Questionably Legal??? (Score:3, Insightful)
I would consult a lawyer before trying it. It might well be considered a counterfeit document.
Re:Here is what I do (Score:3, Insightful)
Bzzztttt. Just don't carry a balance.
I have a card which puts 2% of every purchas I make in my daughter's college fund. Since I use this card for basically everything I buy from anyone who takes cards, that ends up being around $40/month that she gets. That's money I'd be leaving on the table if I paid cash or wrote checks. I pay the bill online, paying the entire balance off every other week when I get paid, so I've never paid a penny of interest on this account.
Having been in debt at one time, I can understand why many folks think credit cards are evil. However, if you keep them paid off, there are many perks to using them. Just treat them as you would any other tool - wear your safetly glasses and keep your fingers clear of the moving parts. Oh, sorry, wrong speech.