In the third episode of a week‑long "Do Not Get Scammed" holiday series, host Ainsley interviews Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, about ATM skimming. Siciliano explains that criminals attach a fake card‑reading device over the ATM’s card slot to capture magnetic‑stripe data, and often install a small wireless camera (sometimes hidden behind a legal mirror) to record PIN entry. He emphasizes that chip‑and‑signature cards only prevent cloning, not the use of stolen card numbers. To protect themselves, viewers are urged to cover the keypad with their hand while entering a PIN, monitor account statements closely, and sign up for real‑time transaction alerts. The conversation stresses that these simple habits can mitigate the daily loss of roughly $350,000 to skimming scams during the holiday season.
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The holiday season is also the season for scamming, and today is day 3 of our week-long Do Not Get Scammed series. And this morning we are focusing on the ATM, something called skimming, and how to protect yourself and your ATM card from getting ripped off. Joining us now is the CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com. His name is Robert Siciliano. That's right, right, Siciliano. And he's going to tell us how the skimming works. I'm reading that $350,000 is skimmed or scammed, taken from Americans every single day.
Every day.
That's a lot of money. How do we prevent this from happening?
So understanding how the scam works first is very important. Basically, there is the machine itself, and there's usually a facade over the card.
It looks just like it.
Yeah, it might look official.
So when you put your card in, and then it's reading your card.
So this is like a mock skimming device. You pay. There might be a mock skimming device over the face of the ATM. The user puts their card through the skimming device, and this device skims the information off the back of the magnetic strip. Now that's one part of the puzzle. The other part is generally there is a camera in the vicinity of the ATM, usually on the top of it somewhere. Right here, this looks like a mirror to thwart—
and you see these at every ATM.
They're actually required by law in certain states. And so this mirror is there and it's designed to, you know, prevent shoulder surfing. But the reality of it is that mirror contains a small wireless camera that is shooting down at the keypad. Exactly. So as the wireless camera is set up on the face of the ATM, you're putting in your keypad, your code here, and it's recording it. Exactly.
You can't do anything about this, but you can do something about this. What do you do?
Exactly. So the best-case scenario, of course, is that you cover up the keypad with your other hand as you're punching in your PIN code. That way, if there's a camera above, they can't get your PIN code and they can't turn that card number into cash.
Wow. So even at the grocery store when you're using your ATM machine— I mean, your ATM card to charge it— you should always cover up too, cover up the numbers?
No matter where you are, no matter what you do, no matter who's paying attention, don't worry about offending anybody. Just go ahead and cover up the keypad because there's a chance that there could be a camera in the ceiling, right, in a drop ceiling. There could be a surveillance camera in the area with the convenience store or hotel that could pick up that information. So covering up that keypad and of course paying close attention to your statements. Yeah. It's very important to monitor your credit card and debit card statements as frequently as possible. What I do is I sign up for alerts and notifications through my bank or credit card company. So every time there's a charge, every time there's a withdrawal, I get a text message or an email telling me of that transaction. That way I'm aware of it in real time.
Smart, smart. And the little chips, they're worthless, right?
So the chip cards, we have the chip and signature card now. Overseas they have chip and PIN. The PIN actually has more security. That chip and signature is somewhat of a false sense of security. It doesn't completely protect you. You still need to pay attention to your statements. All that chip card does really is prevent card cloning. Which is duplicating the actual card on another card. Other than that, if they skim your information, they can still use that number, the credit card number, over the phone or online.
Alright, good deal. Thank you so much for your help this morning.
Thank you.
We're gonna have much more of this throughout the week. Every single day we're gonna tell you how you should prevent or how to prevent getting scammed throughout the holiday season. Steve, back up to you.
