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Many of you are familiar with skimming. Skimming is any type of fraud that “skims” the information off the magnetic stripe on a credit or debit card. I did a video and brought this to the attention of our readers several years ago.
Shimming refers to an attack that captures date by tapping directly into an EMV chip. It’s very likely the attack will not be detected by the card reader; however, the device must be extracted from the ATM for thieves to retrieve the data.
The bottom line is EMV chip-enabled Ards are safer than cards equipped with only a magnetic stripe.
Shimming works by compromising a perfectly legitimate card reader (like an ATM) by inserting a very thin flexible circuit board through the card slot that will stick to the internal contacts that read card data. The shim is inserted using a “carrier card” that holds the shim, inserts it into the card slot and locks it into place on the internal reader contacts. The carrier card is then removed. Once inserted, the shim is not visible from the outside of the machine. The shim then performs a man-in-the-middle attack between an inserted credit card and the circuit board of the ATM machine. (BankersOnline.com)
How to protect yourself from shimmers
• Use the contactless tap-and-go feature on your credit or debit card instead of swiping or inserting your card.
• Use contactless mobile services such as Apple Pay or Samsung Pay to tap and pay.
• If you’re withdrawing cash at a bank, go inside to a teller.
• Use ATMs in banks rather than more vulnerable standalones.
• Cover the keypad with your hand when entering your PIN.
• Don’t proceed with a transaction if your card encounters resistance when it is inserted.
• Contact the bank, merchant and your card issuer is you suspect your card has been compromised.
• (credit cards.com)
Short of experiencing some difficulty when inserting a card, there’s little to warn consumers that a card read may contain a shim.
Maybe the odds are very slim that your card will ever be shimmed and cloned. What steps can you take to mitigate even that remote risk?
In addition to closely monitoring your account for unauthorized purchases and setting text and email alerts and maximum ATM withdrawal limits on your cards, you may want to explore a tap-and-go contactless card or mobile pay apps such as Apple Pay or Samsung Pay rather than dip your chip. (creditcards.com)
Here we are folks, back to watching for credit card fraud. Go by your bank and see what is available for you to prevent skimming.
sue fyi trustmark called me at 10:00 12-20-18 and asked if i was making a purchase for $6,041.00. i told them i was not. i told them i had not used that credit card in months and she reminded me i had used it at the kangaroo next to angelas some 3 weeks prior for gas (memory lapse). anyway she cancelled the card and reissued new ones. just saying.