watch out if you have a credit card

A couple of days ago 600 shell garages in the UK had to withdraw credit card transactions at their petrol stations. It appears a fraud had been created where customers credit cards used at their pumps were being loaded with fraudulent amounts by a crooked fraud gang.

So chip and pin is not secure, you might have your card in your possession but it is still under attack.

see this comment by a uk forum member.

On doing a little more research here it would suggest that the PIN entry unit had been tampered with but that these were supposed to be tamper resistant. The article then goes on to say that 'it only applies to Shell'....which I find a tad unrealistic since this implies that shell have gobne out and obtained/designed/developed their own special PIN entry unit.

I'd like to think that this were true but common sense suggests that they will have obtained a unit designed/built by someone else and most likely the same unit will have been provided by the developers to other retailers/retail chains. And so anyone using these PIn entry units would be as susceptible to tampering as the Shell units.

I think that they are being a little bit economical with the truth hear since if it is that bad then it puts a huge dent in the so-called 'security' of CHIP n PIN and undermines everything that they were saying re improved security etc etc.
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There are four boxes to be used in defence of liberty: soap, ballot, jury and ammo. Please use in that order - Ed Howdershelt

If you read any of the documentation that is sent out to you when you get your card (I know no one reads that), they do warn you not to use any place that either looks like it has been tampered with or has anything attatched to it (It usually is a small box). What they are warning about is a scam that has been around for quite a while. It originated in asia (most of these hi tech scams do). The little box scans the data from the card and the pin number, they then use this data to spoof another card. This scan came to light over here a couple of years ago, again it was a petrol Co (cant remember which one), but it was also used in bank ATMs, they placed he box on the ATM, the users didnt take any notice, they just thought it was part of the ATM.

How do I know this. Some of you already know, but I will come out again. I actually work of one of the legal money sucking organisations (A Bank, no I wont say what one, but a simple search will tell you if you really care).

This one I think is a bit more sophisticated, after all they to closed down 600 petrol stations. ( using credit card swipe), I assume they continued to accept cash.