Earlier this week criminal charges were brought in federal court against six people accused of installing skimmers on ATMs and retail store checkout point of sale units in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York.     Skimmers are small electronic devices that are easily installed by an identity thief on gas pumps, ATMs and other card reading devices.  The skimmer steals all of the information from old style magnetic strip credit card or debit cards which then enables the identity thief to use that information to access the victim’s credit card or bank account when the skimmer is used on a debit card.  Each skimmer can hold information on as many as 2,400 cards.

Wider implementation of the use of EMV chip cards at retail stores where their use has been mandated since 2015 has resulted in a dramatic reduction in data breaches and credit card fraud at retailers using this equipment.  EMV  chip cards are far safer than the old-style magnetic strip cards. Industry regulations also required ATMs to be EMV complaint by the end of 2022.  However, despite these industry regulations, there are still many retail establishments and banks that have not complied with the regulations and still use magnetic strip technology.

TIPS

Always look for signs of tampering on any machine you use to swipe your credit card or debit card although the more advanced forms of skimmers are installed inside the gas pump, ATM or retail credit card processor and cannot be detected from an inspection of the outside of the device

Debit cards, when compromised through a skimmer put the customers at risk of having the bank accounts tied to their cards entirely emptied if the theft is not promptly reported and even if the victim reports the theft immediately, the victim loses access to his or her bank account while the matter is investigated by the bank.  . With a credit card, your liability for fraudulent purchases is limited by law to no more than $50 and I am not aware of any credit card companies that hold their customers responsible for any fraudulent purchases. However, fraudulent debit purchases do not come with the same federal legal protection.

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