Sept. 25, 2017
Coming soon to a ~ Walmart … Target … Home Depot ~ in your area …

There are whole new generations of credit card skimmers at Walmart et al that are surprisingly good…

What Can We Do?
Thieves continue to modify public ATMs to allow them to steal our Bank Card or Credit Card information, by adding ever-more sophisticated card skimmers & hidden cameras to record  when we enter our security PINs … =>  Making identity theft a $16 billion a year industry in USA-Canada-Mexico.

There’s new free app out that allows us to detect many of the ways that an ATM … or gas pump … or Target~Home Depot~Walmart scanner has been hacked ~ modified by thieves ~ to steal your personal financial information, Credit Card ~ Bank Card numbers and security PINs.

Think:   Skimmer Scanner

BAD NEWS FOR I-Phone ~ Apple Users:
This new app,  Skimmer Scanner,  only works for Android devices  (think Samsung=good,  Apple=bad) … because there’s no iPhone version … The  Skimmer Scanner  searches for any Bluetooth modules near an ATM or gas pump.   Credit card skimmers currently use Bluetooth as the most typical method of transmitting our stolen bank & identity information.

ZDNet explains that Bluetooth modules are the most typical way that thieves download all the our credit card numbers & PINs they’ve captured … usually stolen without ever being detected.  … The thieve’s skimmer transmits our personal data to some Bluetooth module that “saves” the info,  until the thief returns to collect them.

Once installed, the thief never has to physically touch with the skimmer set-up, allowing them to be sitting in a nearby car nearby or even standing beside the offending gas station pump … casually downloading our personal Credit & Bank Card information.

For people who believe they can personally spot modified ATMs & modified Target~Home Depot~Walmart card scanners … consider this:
Can you spot the fake…  from the real one?

…

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Here’s a link to other card skimmers seen in the past in Yucatan (see bottom of article).

https://yucalandia.com/answers-to-common-questions/banking-currency-exchanges-using-credit-cards-atms-in-mexico/

Can you spot all the fakes? …

If not,  maybe it’s time to get the app.

Happy Trails,
steve

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© Steven M. Fry

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