Fake ATM Skimmers

While I usually write about tech based or open sourced based material here, I felt this had to be covered. (I guess they are kind of tech based...??)

I didn't even know these things existed before yesterday. Shows you how naive a person can be.

And I consider myself pretty hip to most of this stuff. I am forever checking my security before I do anything banking or sensitive wise.

Instead of recreating the wheel, I am going to talk about three articles here that I think cover all of the points I would have.

These three articles are:

PCMag's: How to Spot and Avoid Credit Card Skimmers
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2469560,00.asp

Consumerist's: Here's What A Card Skimmer Looks Like On An ATM
http://consumerist.com/2009/04/19/heres-what-a-card-skimmer-looks-like-on-an-atm/

and

Krebs on Security's: Spike in Malware Attacks on Aging ATMs
http://krebsonsecurity.com/tag/atm-skimmer/

Why these three articles?

The PCMag article is very clean and tidy. It almost sensationalizes the whole affair, but PCMag did include some very, very good info. Mostly step by step actions you can take at the ATM to make sure you are not being scammed.

Consumerist shows a much dirtier, grittier truth to it all. You get to see the guts of the ATM skimmers in their wonderful article.

And Krebs on Security shows the latest in nasty behavior from these people, including a ATM lookalike shell that fits over a real ATM! Also they cover people actually hacking the ATM, and changing the software!

I want the world to know about these people so you won't be too-ken in by these crooks. Please though, if you see one, leave it be and call the cops. These people watch their equipment and will attack you.