My wife's uncle stopped at a WaWa in Monroe on Applegarth Rd two days ago and this morning his account was drained of $1700. He reported it to the Monroe police and they said he was the 5th person today to file a report. They said there is an ATM scam ring installing very good card skimmers at WaWa ATMs in Central Jersey. They are doing it at WaWa because of the high usage they believe. No fees at these PNC Bank ATMs.

 

The skimmers are put in place and run for a day or maybe two then removed...then they move onto the next location.

 

For those that don't know what a skimmer is, its an electronic device attached to the card reader and usually an overlay on the key pad. The card data and key presses are logged in flash memory in the skimmer. Bad guys pick em up and make cards or execute transactions.

 

There are lots of variations of these devices. Here's a good article on them. Brian Krebs is a good cyber security info source.

 

http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/

 

These scum wads also place them at bank atms on weekends after closing and pick em up before the bank opens so bank employees don't see them.

 

So be alert at ATMs. You'll probably get the money back but it sucks when your mortgage check or ACH bounces.

Good reason why I rarely use an ATM. I've had both my TD and Picatinny accounts stolen, not even sure how either of them got stolen. Both were my wifes card but never used at an unordinary place. Good thing at least both banks refunded the money within 2-3 days and did refund any overdraft fees if they applied. 

I love WaWa! And they have free ATM! Oh well.

I love WaWa! And they have free ATM! Oh well.

 

Free! At the cost of $1700 surcharge by unknown sources lol

Ouch - I would think that the WaWa's, as highly monitored locations, would be relatively safe from the skimmers.  These things are much more prevalent on gas pumps in states where 'pump your own' is the rule.

Yeah, my thought as well. With the cameras they use, figured it wasn't likely. But probably a guy in a hoodie stops and quickly places it when the staff is busy. No idea what these particular skimmers look like but the usually are designed to mimic the real readers.

 

Hope all is well W2MC. Hope to cross path again.

Ouch - I would think that the WaWa's, as highly monitored locations, would be relatively safe from the skimmers. These things are much more prevalent on gas pumps in states where 'pump your own' is the rule.

That would be every state except Jersey and Oregon.

That is why I only use the ones at my bank and not after hours.  Only use those when I don't have time to print my own

Same here, only use the ones at my bank. 

That happened to me while getting gas at the wawa in manalapan, the one on 33. But i think it was the attendant who skimmed it since i handed him the card.

 

I no longer hand anyone my card at a gas station. Especially wawa

Can you use a skimmer against the new ATM cards with the internal chip or does the chip defeat this?

Can you use a skimmer against the new ATM cards with the internal chip or does the chip defeat this?

 

No, the chip doesn't defeat it.   All the chip does is ensure that the card is the real card for a chip reader.  Any transaction that doesn't require the card to be present, used a debit number or doesn't use a chip reader can still use the skimmed information.  That said, the chip card goes a long ways toward resolving this.   Skimmers don't capture CCV numbers which will eliminate most "online" credit card fraud since the card can't be used without the CCV number, but that's only if it's a credit card.  If they capture your debit pin, and it's a debit card then you're still hosed.

 

Retailers are incentivized to switch to chip readers because they will be liable for the fraud if they do not, but not every retailer will, at least for a few years.  Gas stations are exempt until 2017, there may be others.

So all of the skimmed technology will still work but the CCV and the chip information aren't captured so anyone who used those additional things as authentication will not be the fraud target.

Police: ATM skimming device found in Clark

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/police-atm-skimming-device-found-in-clark-1.11334092

 

Police: Criminals install 3 ATM skimming devices in Linden

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/police-criminals-install-3-atm-skimming-devices-in-linden-1.11325438

I keep checking and if and when I do find one and remove it, and the perp actually wants it back ,there will be a

real honest to goodness ass whooping , no matter what the law says.

I keep checking and if and when I do find one and remove it, and the perp actually wants it back ,there will be a

real honest to goodness ass whooping , no matter what the law says.

 

There's a long list of people who will help...

When I use an ATM I always pull on the card slot to see if it moves. I learned of this scam a few years ago. Even at my bank I do it.

When I use an ATM I always pull on the card slot to see if it moves. I learned of this scam a few years ago. Even at my bank I do it.

Not that you should stop, but that gets you up to date for oh... About two years ago. They are getting extremely small.

 

As for the chips, they have been compromised in the eu for years already.

Why use debit at all?

I used the ATM at Wawa yesterday but checked it for a skimmer first thanks to this thread ......

Why use debit at all?

 

It's ATMs in the article? Why would you take cash out of an ATM with a credit card? 

I still love WaWa!!!

It's ATMs in the article? Why would you take cash out of an ATM with a credit card?

Cash is cash, get it from the teller.

CC is third party. The bank card things make zero sense to me. Why let somebody have access to my account.

 

I've been hit wit CC fraud six times thus far with my business. Most are bots, some is shiftless gas/ bar/hotel/ attendant

The CC companies and their vendors have been far, far too slow to roll out the chip-encoded cards. And for some reason it's chip-and-sign, instead of chip-and-pin, which makes a bit more sense...

Once the chip technology is fully implemented credit card fraud will be the thing of the past. Europe implemented this chip technology a few years back and credit card fraud dropped by 75% the first year!!

At least until a crook gets ahold of a private key at a bank somewhere. Then it will skyrocket until the revocation makes its rounds... Nothing's perfect.

At least until a crook gets ahold of a private key at a bank somewhere. Then it will skyrocket until the revocation makes its rounds... Nothing's perfect.

 

It wont be as simple as "copying" your magnetic strip. The chip technology can't be duplicated at the point of sale. It would have to be much more sophisticated than some hadji at a gas station skimming the cards. BTW most skimming at gas stations are done by the actual employees. Sad but true. Banks keep track of the merchants that always seem to have a card skimming problem. Its quite simple. If a bunch of people report their cards being compromised they just look for the common merchant and 9 times out of 10 thats how the employees are caught. 

Yes, it effectively eliminates skimming but doesn't eliminate fraud. My point is that if the system is compromised, its impact will be much greater when compared to the localized skimming attacks to which we are vulnerable now. It moves authentication farther up the chain, which centralizes and enlarges the attack point-- still a trade-off.