Getting Skimmed

I was at the bank the other day, responding to an urgent message on my voicemail from their security department. Something had to be up since the day before I tried making a debit payment at the local Macs and was duely rejected.

Annoying. The bank clerk recounted how earlier this week someone had tried to make a withdrawal with a skimmed card. The offending crook, I assume, was caught and cavity-probed on the spot. The origin of the breached bank card was traced back to a transaction made at the new Paramount movie theatre downtown. To their credit, my bank wasted no time and promptly locked down all accounts that had any dealings with the Paramount ATMs in the past week.

So I was one of the lucky few who had patronized that theatre recently and consider this whole fiasco a close call. The friendly clerk checked my records and confirmed a number of transactions I had made leading up to the freezing of my account. It turns out my account information was not compromised. Someone else was not so lucky.

Skimming, to my basic knowledge, usually involves some illicit modification done to ATM and other debit payment terminals that will scan your card's barcode with the intention of making a duplicate card or other record. This process is combined with a hidden camera that tapes you while you punch in your super secret PIN into the keypad. Having a sneaky person peer over your shoulder would be the low-tech alternative.

The clerk at my bank did not miss this golden opportunity to remind me to keep up safe banking habits. She was borderline admonishing me, even though I didn't do anything wrong. She told me to only use reputable debit machines. The shady plastic terminals you find at bars and clubs don't quite qualify as reputable. We've also just seen how those debit machines at your local multiplex are not immune to the wiles of your everyday criminal. I can honestly see the unscrupulous having no difficulty with rigging up any old ATM, regardless of whether it's a generic box in the pub or an officially branded unit. The banks are just in the delicate position of covering their asses by educating their customers but not enough to discourage them from using ATMs entirely. There is decent money to be made from those awful transaction fees.

The clerk's other common-sense suggestion was keeping a close guard on your PIN. That is a no-brainer of course. I always make sure to hunch over PIN whenever I punch it into the machine. Doesn't matter who's with you. Cover up that PIN: don't even let your mamma see it.

To wrap up my fun-filled visit to the bank, I was strongly advised to reset my PIN. I did so, grudgingly, because I've used the same code for close to 15 years. I have it ingrained in my memory better than I do my own birthday. Now that I've got a new PIN, I don't think I'll ever forget the old one. Yes, I'll take that PIN to my grave, I will. Such a good PIN...