Credit card thieves have a new way of stealing card information from ATMs, and it's almost undetectable.
According to the security blog Krebs on Security, the credit card "shimmer" is a strip of flexible plastic slipped inside a credit card reader. The shimmer is apparently designed to read the information from the iCVV chip placed on most new credit and debit cards. The iiCVV chip is designed to add an additional layer of security to credit cards and identify counterfeit cards.
The photos and information about the "shimmer" were uploaded to a website called CrimeDex, which is an online clearing house for fraud investigators, the site's founders 3VR said. They were originally uploaded by a Mexican company called Damage Control SA, according to 3VR.
Previously, card thieves installed "skimmers", which are false card readers placed on top of existing readers. The shimmer, however, is not visible from the outside and does not require installing anything over the machine's card reader.
The shimmer was found installed on an ATM in Mexico, according to Krebs.
"The ID theft criminals always appear to be a little ahead of the game," identity-theft expert Mark Pribish said. "I just learned about shimming two days ago."
