At Your Door

A string of arrests have been made recently of credit card thieves. What's troubling is that these criminals are tricking the public into handing over their card and PIN using sophisticated devices called skimmers that attach directly to an ATM. When you insert your card into an ATM, it could easily pass through a skimmer device that would record your number electronically and your PIN using and on-board pinhole camera.

How can I protect myself?

Experts suggest that you familiarize yourself with the look and feel of the ATMs you frequent most. This will give you a heads up if one day you see a different colored card reader, or the reader sticks our farther than normal. It is not suggested that you attempt to pull on the card reader, although most skimmers are attached with two-sided tape and will pop off if tugged on.

My personal advice is to skip the ATM entirely by not carrying a debit card. I find that planning out how much cash my family will need for a week reduces the impulse purchases that sometimes come from having a debit card handy. This advice might be problematic unless you carry a couple credit cards with you, but credit cards provide much better protection from fraudsters anyway.

Keep up on the latest credit card skimmer stories by following the good folks of Consumerist.