UK Bank Alert

UK banks rocked by millions in chip & PIN card cloning fraud. The UK banking industry’s massive investment in chip & PIN payment cards has been brought into question after scammers stole more than $1 million from customers by implanting skimming devices in retailer PIN pads. UK police have arrested eight people connected with the fraud which affected hundreds of customers paying for goods at three Shell gas stations where tampered card readers were discovered. Shell has temporarily suspended all chip & PIN payments at UK outlets. The scammers used old-school skimming devices to capture magnetic stripe details and PIN numbers. The cloned cards were then used to withdraw cash and pay for goods at locations overseas and at machines where the chip is not scanned. The banking industry had enforced a national migration to the new scheme on the assurance that it would prevent counterfeit card fraud by making it impossible for scammers to copy confidential card details stored on the microchip. The continued use of mag-stripe data for card withdrawals, both in the UK and at cash machines abroad, represents a loophole which can be exploited by criminals. Sandra Quinn of Apacs said, “This is a specific issue for Shell…We are confident that this is not a systemic issue.“
If you live in the UK you might want to double check your bank statements and balances!

Please follow and like us: