Good morning everyone, I just wanted to introduce you to Shane, the Flying Detective, as my newest writer. He has a law enforcement background and he will write about law enforcement, travel hacking, MSing, and trip reports. He has quite a few trip reports ready, so those will be coming out over the next few days. I hope you enjoy reading his posts and please give Shane a warm TWG welcome.
Everyone has seen the news articles about ATM skimmers and how criminals steal your card info from the magnetic stripe and then record your PIN number by a video camera or a fake PIN pad, right?
How Do ATM Skimmers Work?
To help educate readers who are not familiar with the ATM skimmers, check out this ATM skimmer found at an ATM in Vienna, Austria. Watch the video and you can see how the device records your information.
Some of us use ATM’s in foreign countries (Shelli recently wrote about using ATMs in Europe) or even at home to make deposits. Each time you use the ATM, you potentially expose yourself to an ATM skimmer. With the use of an ATM skimmer to capture and record the card information and a camera or fake keypad, the criminal has all the information they need to start accessing your bank account funds. This video shows the basics of the camera or fake keyboard and how to spot an ATM skimmer.
So now that you are an expert in spotting ATM skimmers, you may be thinking, is there any way to protect myself or should I just stop using ATMs altogether? The good news is there is a way you can safely use ATMs. Many people now carry phones that have a mobile wallet or ApplePay where they can store their credit cards and debit cards on their phone and use them at merchants that accept mobile payments. In addition to the ability to purchase items using this technology, I recently noticed my local bank has enabled this technology on their ATMs. You will notice next to the card slot the machine now accepts NFC cards and mobile wallets.
ATM with NFC Reader
How is this More Secure than Using a Debit Card?
In your phone, you can add your debit card just like any other credit card. Once you add your debit card, you can access an ATM simply by holding your phone up to the ATM NFC reader. Your phone will prompt you to use the mobile wallet app, usually with your fingerprint, and the phone will share a one time token with the ATM. The physical card is never used, so an ATM skimmer cannot capture any information. The one time token which is passed to the ATM from your phone changes each time you use the card through the mobile wallet app and never passes your real debit card number. Even if the criminal captures the one time token, it cannot be used multiple times. After the ATM has your “card” information from the wireless mobile wallet transaction, you simply enter your PIN number on the keypad, and conduct your withdrawal or deposit as normal.
Tips to Get Started
- If you see ATMs that use NFC or the mobile wallet icon, start using those ATMs.
- Add your debit cards to your mobile wallet now, not when you are standing in front of the ATM. Some debit cards require a phone call, text message, or email to complete the registration process and can take more time than you would like, especially if there is a line of people waiting behind you at the ATM.
- If you have trouble adding your debit card, contact your bank. Some cards cannot be added to a mobile wallet.
- Lastly, if you do not have your debit card and forgot to add it to your mobile wallet, you can usually show your driver’s license inside a bank branch to make a deposit or withdrawal from your bank account.
If you follow these steps, your ATM use will be much safer. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.
One of the most valuable posts I’ve ever read. Welcome, Shane. You’ve set the bar awfully high for yourself. Thanks, Grant, for bringing him on board.
Thanks for the kind words Russel.
I often leave my phone in airplane mode while abroad. Can I do so while still using the more secure methods?
Kind of. You will have to enable Bluetooth most likely as NFC uses that to communicate.
What a fascinating post. Thanks for enlightening me. I’ve always seen it but never thought about using Apple Pay like that.
One other thing I do with my Bank of America debit card is that you can actually lock it when it’s not being used. You do this through their mobile app. The first couple times, I’d forget to unlock it so it created an error when I tried to withdraw money. It takes some getting used to and adds an extra step, but I do feel safer knowing that it can’t be used most of the time.
Yes, I have done that with cards I am not using. Good point.
Four simple tips:
1) If you can, use an ATM with an horizontal card reader. I found one at Star One credit union in the Bay Area. The card is inserted horizontally (landscape mode), not portrait mode. In other words the card read is done completely in the ATM machine.
2) Avoid the grey stand alone ATMs that you find in convenience stores and other offsite locations. Typically these say Triton on the front. These are frequent used in hacker demonstrations because there are many vulnerabilities.
3) Go old school with an ATM only card. There are few uses for debit cards at retail and in my opinion you’re better off using credit cards at retail. If your bank still offers this, request an ATM only card (one without a MasterCard or Visa logo). Although these are not skim proof, the card is not a Visa or MasterCard number rendering it useless for online purchases.
4) You can use a debit card to do an over the counter debit card withdrawal inside a bank branch. Most banks (not an off site place like Travelex Currency Exchange) do not charge for this but you need to check with your issuing bank for any fees (like Chase and US Bank). The key advantage with this method is that you can withdraw much more than at the ATM because this is subject to the purchase limit (typically $1K to $5K/day) and not your ATM cash limit which is usually less.
Grant is getting a lot of great writers from the Denver area.
Yes I am, lots of good writers in the Denver area :)