shimmers-for-skimming-credit-card-information
‘Consumers and retailers be on guard: there’s a new and more devious way for fraudsters to steal your credit and debit card information.
“Shimmers” are the newest form of credit card skimmers, only smaller, more powerful and practically impossible to detect. And they’re popping up all over the place, says RCMP Cpl. Michael McLaughlin, who sounded the alarm after four shimmers were extracted from checkout card readers at a Coquitlam, B.C., retailer.
“Something this sophisticated, this organized and multi-jurisdictional has all the classic hallmarks of organized crime,” said McLaughlin. The shimmers retrieved from a Coquitlam retailer even had handy arrows to help a fraudster install them correctly. (Coquitlam RCMP)
Unlike skimmers, a shimmer — named for its slim profile — fits inside a card reader and can be installed quickly and unobtrusively by a criminal who slides it into the machine while pretending to make a purchase or withdrawal.’