BEWARE! Fraudsters use tiny devices to skim your credit card
Technology is ever advancing and making it more and more difficult to stay ahead of the fraudsters.
Used to be that you only had to keep your card in sight at all times to be relatively safe.
Not any more, these devices are now so small that they can be concealed in the palm of the hand (or any other place!)
This report from IOL Online:
How fraudsters are stealing your money
A number of small, hand-held devices are
now being used to copy customers’ card information and duplicate it.
The “new card
skimmers” are often the size of a matchbox or lighter and can be easily
concealed in the fraudster’s hand or anywhere on their body.
It takes someone a second or two to swipe a card through a skimming device. The devices can hold thousands of account holders’ information, which is then downloaded on to a laptop or computer. Information is transferred from the computer on to a card with a reader-writer.
Information stored electronically can be emailed to any global destination. The skimmer and encoder come with a software driver CD which must be installed for them to become effective.
As we have said before your only protection is common sense and vigilance.
Is the waiter/waitress doing something out of place?
The person helping you in the store doing something “unusual”?
It’s no good asking yourself later “I wonder why he did that?” and then finding huge charges on your credit card!
So be vigilant and if something does not “seem right” report it to the manager, you can always apologise later, rather be embarrassed and uncomfortable than be another victim.
Remember YOU are responsible for your own safety, THEY cannot protect you 24/7.
