Credit and debit card skimmers using new locations to steal your information

According to KrebsonSecurity, credit and debit card skimming is on the rise. About 4 months ago this happened to me, someone you think would be careful. I used my debit card at a gas station in Deerfield Beach and didn’t think about my location at the time and they got me. They managed to gas up, get $100 from an ATM and buy some chocolates before my bank spotted it.

While I had not considered this, it makes sense for skimmers to try new areas that might have less security. It turns out that parking meters and transport stations are some of the new targets.

“Recently, at least five countries reported skimming attacks against railway or transport ticket machines, according to the European ATM Security Team (EAST), a not-for-profit organization that collects data on skimming attacks. Two countries reported skimming attacks at parking machines, and three countries had skimming incidents involving point-of-sale terminals. EAST notes that Bluetooth devices increasingly are being used to transit stolen card and PIN data wirelessly.”

So consider this a friendly reminder to use your credit and debit cards carefully.