'Muggings' Via Technology

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 18:05:09 -0400 (EDT)
To: dave () farber net
Subject: 'Muggings' Via Technology

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/16/eveningnews/consumer/main554295.sh
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CBS News | 'Muggings' Via Technology | May 16, 2003 20:24:55
<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/16/eveningnews/consumer/main554295.s
html>  

'Muggings' Via Technology

HACKENSACK, N.J., May 16, 2003


(CBS) When Robert Green made a quick stop at his neighborhood ATM to grab
some cash, he never imagined just how much it would cost him.

"All the money was gone -- approximately $2,500," Green told CBS News
Correspondent Byron Pitts. "They started to take money out of the account
about an hour after my using the machine."

With frightening speed, Green's money was stolen, and he became a statistic
-- part of a growing collection falling prey to a fast-spreading,
state-of-the-art scam called "ATM Skimming."

Thieves camouflage credit card readers -- which are widely available on the
Internet -- and attach them to an ATM. While that records your card
information, hidden cameras or fake keypads capture your PIN number. After
you leave, unaware you've been had, the account data is burned onto blank
cards, the PINs are retrieved and it's off to the races to get your money.

Hackensack Police Chief Michael Zisa described the thefts as high-tech
mugging. 

"Clearly it's a growing problem," Zisa said. "After we had our incidents, we
sent out an alert along the East Coast and got responses from as far away as
Florida." 

The scam first popped up overseas, but now it has taken firm hold in the
United States. A ring operating near Chicago recently hooked up hardware and
helped themselves to more than $250,000.

Around Boston, skimmers went as far as planting a sign -- "ATM Screen
Options Have Changed" -- to calm suspicious ATM users, then conned them out
of about $50,000. 

Estimates of the total skimmed every year from the roughly 365,000 ATMs in
America run well past $10 million.

And if that wasn't enough, for the unlucky victims losing their money is
just the start of the headaches.

"The victims we talk to -- they have a lot of fear where they feel that more
of their personal information is in the hands of the criminals. It is very
devastating to them," said Diane Terry of the Transunion Fraud Victims'
Assistance Department.

The best defense? Awareness.

Said Secret Service Special Agent Thomas Kasza: " I would tell people --
trust your suspicions. If you're looking at something and thinking it's not
right, you probably have a good reason for that thought."

And good reason to be careful, in this age of high-tech hoodlums looking to
get their hands on your hard-earned money.




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