Reader Finds Card Skimmer On Bank ATM

http://consumerist.com/5200818/reader-finds-card-skimmer-on-bank-atm

I find stuff like this totally fascinating. On the one hand, it’s totally ingenius – mold a front cover for a given ATM brand (how do you think they do it? manually, or with a fast-setting mold product?), set in a tiny magnetic strip reader of your own that attaches to a battery, a flash card and a USB plug, and adhere it to an ATM. Step 3, profit!

On the other hand, what sort of mentality do you have to have to premeditate such an act? Do they do it to their local ATM, for quick access, or do they drive far away so they don’t affect their friends and family (if any)?

I really want to know what they’re thinking. Is it just the lure of fast money? Do they dislike other people, and glory in the idea of screwing them over? Or do they just think, “I deserve this, for all I’ve been through!”?

Honestly, I think it’s that last bit more than anything else. Any time I start thinking that I deserve something, especially if it’s “I deserve it more than someone else”, I hear warning sirens in my head – I’m probably about to justify something I would not otherwise find ethical or wise. Know what I mean?

~ by Skennedy on April 7, 2009.

Posted in Uncategorized

9 Responses to “Reader Finds Card Skimmer On Bank ATM”

  1. I had that exact kind of thought process back in 3rd grade when a mean girl used to steal my lunch everyday. I mean, the guilt alone of knowing that someone else was going hungry so that I could have more food would have killed me. What was different about her that made it alright to do such a thing? How did she justify it to herself? What words did she use to make it a good idea not just once but dozens of times? I still wonder.

    sheryl67 said this on April 7, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    • You have to think that they already think pretty poorly of themselves, and probably think there’s no fixing it – “I am what I am”.

      atdt1991 said this on April 7, 2009 at 4:01 pm

  2. I totally checked for one of these before using my ATM last night. I check every time.

    vectorb said this on April 7, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    • I have to admit, I rarely use an ATM these days – the cash I do have on hand (very little) often comes from going out to dinner with people, and them giving me their cash while I use my debit card.

      Getting one’s hands on a retail credit swipe machine and adding an additional magnetic reader, now THAT would be devious.

      atdt1991 said this on April 7, 2009 at 4:14 pm

  3. I think you may be projecting too much conscience into the thought process. It’s pretty simple, really. “I want money. They have money. I will take their money.” I probably wouldn’t do such a thing myself, but I can easily imagine doing so and not feeling bad about it, or even thinking that hard about it.

    ikkarus01 said this on April 7, 2009 at 4:23 pm

  4. It is a transparent system – if properly placed, the card would go right through this reader and into the card reader, and you’d never know. Of course, if they put it on even slightly off-center, you might have difficulty getting the card out, as it might smack against this thing as it ejects.

    atdt1991 said this on April 7, 2009 at 5:22 pm

  5. This kind of scam terrifies me. I’d like to think I’d notice if an ATM had been added to…but who knows?

    jadesfire55 said this on April 7, 2009 at 5:22 pm

  6. You think this is ugly, what about the time I got AIDS from that syringe in the payphone coin return?

    People are such assholes.

    myopicgreen said this on April 7, 2009 at 6:40 pm

  7. I have been paranoid about these card-stealer things ever since I saw it in an episode of CSI. The culprit in the show also had a tiny camera placed in the ATM to see the pin pad.

    fiercesteyes said this on April 7, 2009 at 8:34 pm

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