/ Cory Doctorow / 9:45 am Thu Dec 8, 2011

Extremely sophisticated, 3D printed (?) ATM skimmer


This ATM skimmer was retrieved from a Chase ATM in West Hills, CA, and it appears to have been 3D printed. It is very sophisticated, with "true geek factor."

On the bottom of the fake card acceptance slot is a tiny hole for a built-in spy camera that is connected to a battery. The spy camera turns on when a card is dipped into the skimmer’s card acceptance slot, and is angled to record customer PINs.

The bottom of the skimmer device is designed to overlay the controls on the cash machine for vision impaired ATM users. On the underside of that space is a data port to allow manual downloading of information from the skimmer.

Looking at the backside of the device shows shows the true geek factor of this ATM skimmer. The fraudster who built it appears to have cannibalized parts from a video camera or perhaps a smartphone (possibly to enable the transmission of PIN entry video and stolen card data to the fraudster wirelessly via SMS or Bluetooth). It’s too bad so much of the skimmer is obscured by yellow plastic. I’d welcome any feedback from readers who can easily identify these parts based on the limited information here.

Pro Grade (3D Printer-Made?) ATM Skimmer

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  1. I usually check most ATM slots now, but sometimes I don’t bother with them if they are the newer style similar to the one displayed.  I guess I’ll have to start checking those ones too now.

  2. Obviously the response here should be that all 3D printers must be registered and all material that is fed into them must be considered a controlled substance.  Otherwise these people could just make *anything!*

      1. Your comments about First Amendment rights are invalid unless they are brought forth in the Constitutionally protected Free Speech Zone ™ brought to you by Chase, The Bank That Listens.

  3. actually if I see anything vaguely suspicious on an ATM, I try to prise it off… So far nothing has come loose in my hand!

    1. If they attach it with epoxy, you probably aren’t going to be prying it off, even if it is a false front.

    2. That would be a ‘House’ tribute edition, yes? Call me when there is a Cameron version. And I *don’t* mean “Cameron, scumbag PM of UK” either.

  5. We’ve had these kind in Ireland for about a year and a half, same green bubble and everything, obviously the card is different.
    I caught 2 guys walking away from an ATM one night as I was about to use it, I didn’t use it because it was pretty obvious what was going on, so I went back and sat in my car. One of the guys was right beside me ‘on the phone’, it’s funny, because his lips didn’t move once on this very long call. Anyway, I called the cops, they showed up, the 2 guys got arrested and got no money, hurray!!

    1. Probably less than the legal implications of putting one there.  It sounds like skimmer installers watch the ATMs as well so you may receive a pummeling, but I don’t think the cops would do anything.

  7. The article mentions that STL may have been used to make molds. Maybe they 3d printed a mold and then cast the parts using liquid resins that solidify.3d printing, especially in the cheap end tends to produce a rough “pixelated” surface finish. That should be easy to identify from the quality of the surface finish.

  9. Google south bay area Lucky’s skimmer. After 1 skimmer was found at a self checkout register at Lucky’s, they searched all of the locations and found about 20 professional skimmers.
    Money was actively being taken from customer bank accounts. The recommendation was to close your account if you shopped there. Pretty severe.
    http://goo.gl/TbUHi

  10. We can now update the photoshop meme to: “I have seen a few 3d prints in my time. I can tell from the voxels.”

  13. There is a “Made in Canada” label which makes me first think that it’s a Blackberry and secondly we need a candidate that is bold enough to build a northern border fence.   Cain is such a pussy for dropping out.

    1. He only dropped out so he could really get work done and help out.  And help his family because of the “hurt caused on me”.

  14. The Ministry of Language and Culture is proud to stand in solidarity with the Committee for Preserving the Rights and Privileges of Low-Cost Housing.

  16. I’m more worried about the fraudsters in the bank than outside it.
    They frequently take my money and blackmail me.
    Never had a problem with skimmers…

  18. I had my card skimmed a couple weeks ago when I was in NYC for two weeks, but it was a credit card, not a debit/atm card. The card never left my possession and I only used it at reputable businesses (Uniqlo and Muji primarily… both places are deadly to my wallet).

    When I think it happened, I suspected there was a skimmer and tried to pull it off, but there were only two machines (MTA metro card machines in a small subway station) and the other one was out of order and missing the train wasn’t an option (I already had a metro card but wasn’t keeping track of how much money was on it – and of course I didn’t have enough when I was in a huge hurry, not when it might have been more convenient).

    I had to swipe my card about five times before the machine accepted it, no doubt due to the skimmer.

    It was used by the crims after I had already been back in CA for a day or two at an Apple Store on Long Island. The bank recognized it as an unlikely transaction and declined it, thankfully. I guess the crims must have known it was a credit card, or assumed it was a debit card that could be used as a credit card, so they tried to buy iphones or something with high resale value rather than trying to withdraw funds at an ATM.

    I guess my point is, don’t be lax if you’re using a credit card at machines rather than a debit/atm card – always try your mightiest to rip stuff off the machine :)

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