Ireland investigating fake credit card reader scam

If you've used a credit card reader in Ireland recently you may want to call your credit card company and monitor your account.

Scammers posing as bank workers replaced credit card readers in retail stores in northeast Ireland with fake readers that captured the data on as many as 10,000 credit and debit cards, according to an IDG News Service report.

The Bank of Ireland shut down some cards and limited overseas withdrawals, while Ireland's National Police Service launched an investigation.

Criminals can make clone cards with the data they get off the magnetic stripe from the cards that pass through the dummy readers.

[professionaladventurer]

It's long know that minimum wage workers are the easiest target in CC scamming. anyone can get the job and you just switch the reader when no one is looking, then quit the job. One day of transactions on the dummy reader makes it worth it.

[Lerianis]

Unfortunately, you are right about the minimum wage workers being the easiest to convince to do something like this. Frankly.... I wouldn't do this, even if I was making minimum wage, because I was taught that it is wrong to steal from other people (corporations are another story).

[The_Decider]

Similar things have occurred in the US. Most notably with those ATM machines in convenience stores. Dealing with a known bank's ATM isn't an assurance of security(after all these things actually run Windows. How mindboggling stupid is it to run a desktop OS in these things?), but it is certainly better then dealing with a machine owned by some unknown company and lightly regulated.

[Imalittleteapot]

So, now is anyone ready to abandon credit card technology? You all let me know when you're ready to stop using credit cards and switch to something more secure like smart card devices. Its all already been invented, but it doesn't help if nobody demands it from their credit companies.

[Laisseraller]

Great Article! I have found in my research that most people do not know what th do when they receive a scam email - I have made a hub which gives simple steps with links to report the scams, The title of the Hub is called "Report Scammers" here is the link:
http://hubpages.com/_12decfraud86/hub/Report-Scammers

[anthonysmission]

Cool, I bet it wasn't duct taped to the bottom of a Walmart counter!


Anthony Kraudelt
3102 Lilac Haze Street
Las Vegas, NV 89147