OT: ATM skimmers

[Adrian Caspersz]

No, I don't want to make one ...

[Brian Gaff]

Would you not have thought that the makers of atms would have nipped this in the bud by now, one is almost forced to wonder whether they are in fact getting a cut of the profits. Brian

[John Rumm]

I would imagine its tricky to detect "add ons" of this nature reliably without also giving lots of false positives. The maker of the machine in question obviously had quite a good attempt by making the card "slot" a bright green translucent back lit illuminated thing with a very odd three dimensional profile - presumably thinking that it would be very difficult to place anything in front of it without it being obvious. The device in question was a very good copy of the shape using spot on materials.

[DerbyBorn]

John Rumm wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I have wondered if a tough glass flat panel housing the screen and a slot would be simple and hard to add anything.

[charles]

keys pad?

[Bob Eager]

They put keypads on the inside of shop windows...

[dennis]

Just put another glass plate in front with the skimmer in.

Those green things look like skimmers so how are you are supposed to spot one?

Make sure you hide your pin as its difficult for them to get the pin if you keep your fingers covered.

[DerbyBorn]

I totally agree - I don't like them.

[Tim+]

Sounds like a good idea. Adding more external complexity just makes it harder for users to know what is normal and what has been tampered with.

First time we came across one of those green card receivers we decided to cancel our card afterwards as it was the only one like it.

If we all knew that there should be nothing other than a clean flat surface, it would be much harder to hide skimmers.

Tim

[Dave Liquorice]

Like they do with a false plate at the top of the opening to hide a camera in.

They seem a nice shape to give a good yank on, the skimmer owner has to get it off fairly quickly and easyly so they can't be glued on overly well.

Another thing that gives away the skimmer is the visible read head behind the translucent plastic.

[Andy Burns]

When I first saw one, I was suspicious of it, rather than thinking of it a security measure.

I thought the skimmer owner downloaded the data wirelessly?

[polygonum]

3M Command adhesive products are amazingly strong AND easy to remove.

Oh dear, have I given someone an idea...?

[dennis]

I went and asked in the bank as they really do look like you could hide a skimmer in them.