Staten Island ATM Skimmer Scam

May 12, 2009 – 1:47 pm

scammer1 With all the advances in technology in the world you would think that the banking system could figure out a way to prevent skimmer type scams. Placing skimmers over the card slot to record the card information is the oldest trick in the book. Scammers have been doing this for many years, and the banks have not do anything to make their ATMs more secure.

A group of at least 3 bandits have rigged ATMs with a skimmer and a video camera to record card information and record the victim punching in their pin number. They them match up the video footage with the information from the skimmer. With the combined information they can make their own ATM cards and withdraw the money from the victims bank account.

123scammer This group of bandits stole more than $500,000 from more than 250 victims. This money is of course going to be reimbursed by the banks. All three guys in the picture used the same guys ATM card to withdraw money. The fist two got money out but the card was blocked by the victim and the third went home empty handed.

Skimmer devices are now illegal but are still being used by criminals at ATMs and gas stations all over the U.S. I don’t understand why banks don’t develop a chip or something in the card that cannot be copied or duplicated. That way even if the criminal has the information they can’t use it without the original card.

It seems simple enough to make debit cards harder to duplicate but I guess identity theft is still not the main priority on some people’s minds. Debit and credit cards still use magnetic strips to hold information, a technology that hasn’t changed in years. It’s time, technology should start to thwart criminals and prevent some identity theft.