SKINT skimmer

Wired have a good article on credit card skimming (read here). It is less prevalent in Ireland because unlike in the United States, the industry has added a chip as well as the mag stripe (the black strip on the back) to debit and credit cards. It is much harder to crack and so far there hasn't been any wholesale skimming of chipped cards, although techies have already demonstrated that 'Chip and PIN' can be hacked. That explains why ATM skimming attacks have almost died off in Ireland, while still on the increase elsewhere. One reader of Fakes, Frauds and Scams told me this week that their penniless student off-spring had their newly issued card skimmed in Dublin. Fortunately the thief didn't get any money because the student didn't have any and only used the ATM to change the PIN. The bank called the student within five minutes to tell her that the card had been skimmed and the card had been cancelled. The ATM in question in Dun Laoghaire is close to a ferry port so it's possible some bottom-feeder of the underworld had just arrived in the country unaware that Irish issued cards are chip and PIN and therefore much, much harder to clone. and was stuck for cash.

CARD skimmers

Irish people just love ATMs, using the cash machines twice as much as the EU average. Card skimming, however, has quietly gone off the radar in Ireland. While the level of skimming has dropped from a peak of €14 million in 2002, there are individuals and gangs still operating in the country. The value of card fraud is still about the same but has dropped significantly as a proportion of transactions, according to figures from the Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO). Many bank customers are aware of skimmers and look out for possible card-readers attached to ATMs. Bank security has improved as well to make life harder for the skimmers. Late last year there were organised attempts to skim card details from retail outlets in which fraudsters posed as technicians to tamper with or replace point-of-sale card readers. It's a more audacious way of harvesting Pins and customers but potentially very effective.
It's a sure sign that the improved security and awareness has forced skimmers to look for new ways in. Once one point of attack is closed off to the fraudsters they'll look for another weak spot
But the future doesn't hold out any good news unless the banks move early to ensure their systems are safe. An article in today's Wired magazine suggests that hackers have found a weak spot in the banking system to harvest unencrypted Pins. In the meantime keep an eye on your account...