Getting Skimpy With ATM Skimmers

Cybercrooks can be notoriously cheap, considering how much they typically get for nothing. I’m reminded of this when I occasionally stumble upon underground forum members trying to  sell a used ATM skimmer: Very often, the sales thread devolves into a flame war over whether the fully-assembled ATM skimmer is really worth more than the sum of its parts.

Such was the fate of an audio-based ATM skimmer put up for sale recently on a private crime forum. The seller, a Ukrainian, was trying to offload a relatively pro-grade skimmer powered by parts cannibalized from an MP3 player and a small spy camera. The seller set the price at $2,450, but made the mistake of describing the device’s various parts, all of which can be purchased inexpensively from a variety of online retailers.

For example, he told forum members that the main component in the card skimmer as an MSR-605, which is a handheld magnetic stripe reader of the sort that you might find attached to a cash register/point-of-sale machine at a retail clothing store, for example.

SOURCE: krebsonsecurity.com