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07/02/2018

Shimmers: The New Credit Card Skimmers

Journal Times

According to Visa®, the introduction of the EMV (Europay, MasterCard®, and Visa) chip card in late 2015 resulted in a 76% decrease in counterfeit fraud in less than three years. Visa claims that the use of chip cards is incredibly effective against fraudulent activity. Other major financial institutions praise chip cards as the gold standard for consumer credit card protection.

EMV chip cards addressed the vulnerability of magnetic strip credit cards, namely credit card skimming. In this scam, a device is physically attached to a gas pump, ATM, or point of sale machine to capture your account information without your consent. Once this information is obtained, a counterfeit card can be created to make purchases or withdraw cash from your account.

However, consumers who upgraded to chip cards may have prematurely breathed a sigh of relief, because thieves have found a new way to exploit chip-enabled cards through credit card shimming instead of skimming.

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