News Article

27 April 2009

Card Skimming is a method to fraudulently capture information contained in the magnetic stripe on the back of your ATM card. It can occur at either an ATM or an EFPTOS terminal. There have been over 60 ATM skimming incidents in Australia this year alone.

In an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson, Commander of the NSW Police Fraud Squad said ‘“the devices that Card Skimmers are using are improving, becoming smaller, more sophisticated and capable of storing more data. They are becoming very difficult to detect and they seem to be made specifically for different models of ATMs”.

An ATM card skimming device is fastened close to or over the top of the ATM’s factory-installed card reader. This device reads the information in your magnetic strip and stores the information. It is generally used in conjunction with a pinhole camera that is used to capture your PIN number when you enter it into the keypad on the ATM.

The camera is usually directly above the key pad or beside the machine. From a card holder’s point of view, the best thing you can do is place one hand over the pin as you enter it. The information the card skimmers read from the magnetic strip is useless without your PIN.

Tips

• Choose ATMs that are in well-lit, public or highly populated areas
• Remove the cash quickly and secure it out of public view as soon as practical
• Be sure to remove your card
• Be attentive to your physical surrounds during and after an ATM transaction
• Be sure there are no people standing close to you when conducting a transaction
• Be aware of attempts to distract you
• Cover your PIN number with your hand when entering it on the keypad

If you believe your card has been skimmed, or if you have suspicions about an ATM or EFPTOS terminal due to it’s appearance or how the transaction was conducted, please contact our Visa Cards Department on 07 3114 5055 between 8.30am – 4.30pm Mon – Fri or the 24 hour Emergency Visa Card Hotline on 1800 621 199.