What is card fraud?

Skimming is a type of fraud concerned with the electronic copying of data, which at a later stage are used to the cloning of a bank card. this type of fraud is most often performed by placing a skimming device on an ATM or POS terminal. On the rise is a new type of a skimming device for contactless bank cards. It consists of a POS terminal with an additional antenna.

Over 22 000 000 US dollars are the annual losses worldwide from card fraud

What is skimming?

According to the FBI, skimming is the copying of data from the magnetic stripe of the bank card by means of an illegal scanner (skimmer).

Skimmers installed on ATMs are usually very hard to detect. Users don’t even notice that their card data is being copied while they are using the machine.

In shops, dishonest employees skim the cards of their clients by means of miniature hand-held readers.

Now there are even viruses which can be used by hackers to infect ATMs and POS terminals and which serve as virtual skimmers.

What is RFID skimming?

RFID skimming or digital pickpocketing is the wireless interception of information from RFID chip-based debit, credit and ID cards and other documents, such as passports.

The purpose of RFID skimming may be simple theft of funds or more complex identity theft.

Anyone with a NFC reader/POS terminal (with an additional antenna) can pick up the information from your NFC bank card and without your knowledge complete a transaction for the maximum amount of money, allowed to be withdrawn from a NFC card without a PIN. In Bulgaria this is 25 BGN. It varies in every country.

This type of fraud is growing in popularity. The thieves can spend 1 hour in a crowded shopping mall, metro station or train station and collect 1 Euro from each person. For just a few minuted they will be proud owned to a solid profit. In such a situation it very unlikely for the card holder to be suspicious of such a small transaction.