How card skimmers getting millions from banks

Skimming isn’t new—it’s been around almost as long as ATM machines. But a pair of Bulgarian-born Canadians named Nikolai Ivanov and Dimitar Stamatov  benefitted from a new generation of skimming technology that has turned the once-difficult crime into a mass-market business. Using pre-fabricated gear perfectly matched to the hardware of Chase Bank ATMs, they were able to read the magnetic stripe off of victims' cards and even record victims punching in their PINs. After this bit of fun, the duo went on a cross-country withdrawal spree using clones made from their victims' cards, pulling over $264,000 in cash from machines in Arizona, Illinois, and Canada.

At left, one of the Chase ATMs "compromised" by Ivanov and Stamatov's skimming gear. At right, the card reader—disguised as a lip that fits over the ATM's existing card slot—and the pinhole video camera used to capture victims' PINs.

Skimmers are cleaning house getting an average of $50,000 per incident there are not only hit ATM's but also Self check out lanes in stores and gas pumps.

In an effort to fight skimmers banks are come up with new ways to fight this in Europe the have begun to  use smart chips in place of the magnetic strips. US banks have started adding sensors to detect if something is added to the machine and jammers to prevent the transmission of data find out even more at http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/06/automated-robbery-how-card-skimmers-still-steal-millions-from-banks/