The NSW Police seized the skimming device - the first capture of such a device in Australia - from an ATM in Pyrmont in inner-city Sydney on the weekend. The capture follows several incidents of fraud using the devices in Sydney in recent weeks.
Skimming is becoming an increasingly popular way for fraudsters to make money by ripping off ATM users; custom made gadgetry is used to steal card information and PIN's.
The device itself consists of a pin-hole camera and a card reader.
The card reader is placed over the card slot on the targeted ATM to read the magnetically stored data from the card as it is inserted into the machine. The camera is mounted above the ATM's keypad, and records the victim entering their PIN.
After the skimmers have copied the data from the card and recorded the PIN, they can very easily duplicate the card and start drawing money from the victim's account.
The device was found when a 38 year old Randwick woman became suspicious while using the Pyrmont ATM. She alerted the Police, who have commended her actions.
Detective Acting Inspector Michael Gerondis said that ATM users should "...keep a lookout for such devices and follow this woman's lead and call the police".
Gerondis has also said that users of the Pyrmont machine need not worry about their accounts.
"People who used the ATM today can be reassured by the fact that no cards were compromised as the device had not been retrieved or the information downloaded".
He also had some practical advice for potential victims.
"A simple security measure for those using ATMs is to place their second hand over the key pad, shielding their pin number. This prevents an illegally-placed video camera, or anyone watching, from obtaining their pin," he said.
This story would be a lot more useful if it contained some clue as to how I might recognise an ATM that had been fitted with a skimmer. Surely, if the fraudsters intend to retrieve the device at a later date, it must be possible to see it.