Any else get hit by this EFTPOS scam?

[Pinch]

Hey all

Anyone else get hit by this?

Went to check my transaction account to make sure my first mortgage payment after a refinance was ok to come out. Um, no. Bal: -8.39. That would have been a good look defaulting on the first payment!

Not quite what I was expecting to see.

Apparently I was hit by these EFTPOS skimmers. Most likely as when I used my debit card at a Macca's in Sydney last year.

Simple solution though - change all your PIN's NOW!

Cleaned me out about $1500. Lucky I could transfer it back in from elsewhere though. ANZ reckons it will be returned... within 3 months. Don't know what you do if you couldn't cover it in the meantime...

Being the ever-philosophical person I am (even more so after my family issues last year) I just shrugged and thanked whomever that they didn't do it the old fashion way and bop me or knife me after I withdrew it from an ATM. Pretty glad they hit my account when they did too, and not just after my wife and I got paid and before we transferred it back out.

They say there is very little you can do to identify it before it happens, the machines are altered internally. So there is no even minute tell-tale like the old ATM skimmers. It could also have been skimmed months ago, and only now starting to be used.

Check your statements.

Don't keep all your money is a card-linked account.

And change your PIN if you haven't already.

I am also kind of angry at the ANZ 'Falcon' though, because its more of a pigeon! See I made two transactions in Sydney on Sat morning, then these scammers started withdrawing from my account at UK ATM''s 2 hours after my last Sydney withdrawal. Now call me a sucker for using long haul flights to get to London, but I was under the impression that teleporters were still generally unavailable. Thus a card used in Sydney could not legitimately be used in London 2 hours later (debit card remember).

Amex is my main purchase card - both normally and when travelling. They have picked up attempted fraud on this basis before. I.e. time + distance = no way! In that case Amex stopped my card until they called me to confirm that no I didn't just get petrol in Sydney AND try to get a USD 200 cash advance in Belarus within 4 hours of each other. Sorted there and then. No money taken from my account, and no reimbursement or chasing up needed.

And why can't we have the chip technology in ALL debit cards either that stops these magnetic strip insecurity issues?

It is said they targetted Australia because we are behind the rest of the world on protecting ourselves against such attacks.

Hope no one else got hit, but change your PIN's just in case.


Pinch.

[TURBOTAXI]

Do you use internet explorer?

[Pinch]

Yes I have (using Firefox now though), but this was a purely magnetic strip/Eftpos skim thing.

[uranium_death]

I have three accounts and two cards.
One is my debit card (online purchases only - never left my house), my EFTPOS card (everyday account), and my Netbank Saver account.

I do not leave large sums of money in my everyday account so that if somebody does somehow acquire my PIN (I always check the ATMs I use now just to see if anything is changed), they will not be able to run me dry.

If the system here REALLY hit skimmers REALLY hard, they would not bother coming here to perpetrate this crime as often as they do. Unfortunately, Australia's justice system is known to be very sympathetic to those who do wrong and as a result, crime almost days pay at times. The penalty for taking a risk hardly matches the crime.

Stay vigilant.

[Pinch]

Agree UD. Your advice is sound. Never keep all your eggs in one basket.

My 'transaction' account was hit. It only had my forthcomming direct-debited mortgage payment in it. I just had to transfer some more in from my online savings account and that was it.

Not everyone has that luxury though.

[seduced_xr]

i have all my eggs in 1 basket. i cant afford to set up any more accounts at the moment and plus my one account is almost dried up :(

i always withdraw cash from an ATM inside a branch and then use that to pay for things, seems to be working for me

[Deaks]

Ive had $4000 taken from me by some twits in Bangkok, Comm Bank traced it somehow back to when i was in Hong Kong. That was 4 years ago now. But i got the money back within 5 days. Bout the only time Comm Bank were useful.

I only use the same ATM and if that isnt near by, i try to stay away from dodgy little Servo ATMs.

[SKITZD]

They are shocking for this with ATM's. You should always check the slot where you insert your card at an ATM for signs of tampering or alteration. It also pays to check around the ATM for signs of a fixed camera, or perhaps a poster or a sign that shouldnt be there that may hold a camera behind it.

The hardest this to detect is the card skimming devices they fix to the car slot of the ATM as they can often be done in a professional manner and its near impossible to notice a change, the card reader for skimming is often just a black plastic device affixed to the car slot to scan the numbers and often a camera catches your pin.

I had to learn all about this two years ago when I worked for a bank and there were reports around of ATM's being targetted in the local area.

I guess the thing is too that you dont really think to check ATM's or EFTPOS devices for alterations. Hey, even I dont check them like I should. But I guess I will be more careful from now on!

And I've never heard of it being done on a EFTPOS machine, so the skimmers are getting game fixing them to EFT machines.

[AdzT3-146]

My old lady got skimmed at a Commonwealth Bank ATM around 6 months ago.

I think it was around $3000
The withdrawal was traced to Uzbekistan IIRC

[cowboy]

I've been done too, my own fault though, used an ATM in Rio de Janeiro airport.

Whats the issue with Internet Explorer?

[Spudz27]

^^ Unless you are using Internet explorer 6 there isn't and I would be surprised if anyone is. Some hacker thing, they found a floor in the explorer 6 program and used it to their advantage. But again I would be surprised if anyone is using version 6 these days.

I always use mozilla anyway.

[uranium_death]

IE is full of flaws...
Microsoft got complacent and didn't update their browser for too long...

It's terrible to use too...

[Mental]

All pinpads in McDonalds have now been replaced. The skimmers replaced the effected pinpads with a modified version that stored info and pins. Then came back at a later date and replaced it with the original.

All pinpads are now secured to the Counters with Kensington Locks.

[SilentDave]

The skimmers at Macca's in Perth were the mobile ones that were used in the drive thru's, not sure how they are preventing manipulation of the machines now as i have always payed cash at these places/

[balthazarr]

The skimmers are pretty sophisticated and, even at an ATM, you have to be careful. See here, for example: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...m_skimmer.html

Click through to the pictures... pretty convincing, and probably not something I would have picked.

[XBROO]

How can you tell whether you have internet explorer 6?

[zdcol71]

Why is it that all these skimmer/ scammer stories seem to be about shifting money out of accounts. Why can't you hot shot hackers and IT whizkids realise that the money stolen through manipulating ATMs is more than likely coming from punters who can least afford to lose it.
Why don't you develop some misguided sense of honour and start depositing large ammounts into peoples accounts.
(PS. hope this isn't relevant to any of the forum members )

[aye you]

hey pinch, i had an unauthorised transfer from my ANZ credit card about 2 years ago, IIRC once ANZ knew they could trace, get the police involved and recover the money, they immediatly transferred into my account the exact ammount that was 'stolen' and after the police action, recovered the money directly to themselves. was out of pocket for 3 days max