4 risky places to swipe your debit card: 1. Outdoor ATMs The idea that outdoor ATMs are among the most dangerous places to use a debit card seems a little bit absurd. But some ATMs present a perfect opportunity for thieves to skim users debit cards, says Chris McGoey, a security consultant based in Los Angeles. Skimming is the practice of capturing a bank customers card information by running it through a machine that reads the cards magnetic strip. Those machines are often placed over the real card slots at ATMs and other card terminals. Any transaction you do outdoors at an open ATM is going to be higher risk exposure, McGoey says. If the public has access to it, then someone has the ability to add skimming devices to it, position cameras on it and position themselves in a way where they could surveil it. 2. Gas Stations Gas stations are another danger zone for debit card use. You go to a gas station and you stick your debit card in there, and you swipe it through a machine, Abagnale says. Im sitting across the street with a laptop and an antenna. I put a skimmer in there, and Im picking up all the information. Before you even get home, Ive debited your account. 3. Online Debit cards are a convenient way to buy products online, especially for those who dont like to use credit cards. Unfortunately, the Web is one of the most dangerous places to make purchases, McNelley says. Online is the No. 1 place where consumers should not use their debit cards, she says. Its susceptible at so many points. The consumer could have malware on their computer, so it could be at their endpoint that the data get compromised. It could be a man-in-the-middle attack where somebody is eavesdropping on their communications via the wireless network. And then at the other end, that data goes into a database at the merchant. As weve seen with some of the higher-profile breach events over the last year or so, that data is going to be vulnerable if (theyre) not properly cared for. Buying stuff online, you have to be careful because you have to know who youre doing business with. When you buy things online, what always kills me about that is people say, This is a safe site, Abagnale says. Who works there? 4. Restaurants Would you care for a side of debit card fraud with that? Restaurant servers dont ask that question, but they might as well with the standard practice of taking customers debit cards to run them behind closed doors. Any place where the card is out of hand can increase the chances of fraud, says McGoey. The guy comes to your table, takes your card and disappears for a while, so he or she has privacy, giving the person the opportunity to copy your card information.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 15:29:06 +0000
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