A shocking new surveillance video showing several crooks pulling a fast one at the cash register will make you think twice about using your credit card at gas stations.
Footage from a Miami convenience store caught a trio of men working together to install a card skimmer on a point-of-sale swipe machine, and it was as swift as the time it takes for a customer to swipe their credit card.
While the employee was distracted by tending to the transaction, the man in the white T-shirt worked his sleight of hand to affix the hacking template over the machine quicker than you can say "My identity's been stolen."
The operation is equal parts impressive and unnerving to watch.
The video, judging by social media reactions, provided an incentive for people to continue using cash.
Frequent hacking operations like these could be the reason why more chip-reading credit cards are becoming more prominent. Unfortunately, gas station ATMs and gas pumps are still vulnerable to tampering, especially after EMV-enabled payments were given an extension through 2020 back in December 2016.
David Tente, the U.S. executive director of the ATM Industry Association, told Creditcards.com that detecting the scanners is more difficult than you would think.
Some of the newer skimmers are almost impossible to see, even if you know what you're looking for.
Here's an example of the insides of a skimmer.
Regarding the magnetic strip technology, Eva Velasquez, the President and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, warned:
If thieves know how to compromise that, that's where they will go. It's lucrative – people wouldn't do it if it wasn't.
With crooks always on the verge of circumventing secure technology, is it only a matter of time before they crack the code of credit card chip readers?
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