Persons of Romanian nationality have been arrested, suspected of having stolen the bank data of clients of a Assembly station. While the latter made up their code to the pump, information from their cards was transmitted to criminals.
You are quietly in full swing. And at the same time criminals steal your bank details to withdraw your money from Spain. It is the unpleasant experience Arrival to customers of a station-Essency in Vitry-sur-Seine, in Val-de-Marne.
The Parisian describes the operating mode of four individuals of Romanian nationality, suspected of being involved in this scam having been able to make many victims. They were arrested on June 13 by the police of the fraud of fraud to means of payment (BFMP).
The latter had previously been alerted by the group of bank cards, which had detected suspicious activities at the payment terminals of this service station. A shimmer, or skimmer, had been installed there.
A device placed on payment terminals
What is it? Concretely, it is a device that can be placed on point of sale terminals. And secretly save information from credit and debit cards that pass there, thanks to the magnetic strips of these cards.
The LeMagit specialized information site even explains that there are websites, such as online commerce sites. These software implants fly the bank data of customers making purchases on this platform. The British Airways airline was notably the victim of a skimmer in 2018, stealing the contact details of 380,000 of its customers.
In the Vitry-sur-Seine service station, the Shimmer transmitted banking information in real time to accomplices from the four arrested. Which were in Spain, and managed to simultaneously withdraw money from distributors. In Barcelona, ​​as well as Madrid.
It was from these fraudulent withdrawals and transactions that the investigators managed to go up the network. And therefore reach the four Romanians in the Paris region. They were arrested in Essonne, and the police also searched the home as well as in the cars of the suspects.
Use contactless to avoid this scam
They found the material necessary for “Shimming” there. This suggests that these criminals hacked other service stations than that of Vitry-sur-Seine, even if it is still early to assess the magnitude of this scam, the investigation being still in progress.
This scam is all the more formidable since it is almost undetectable. An article by the National Cybersecurity Alliance explains that the shimmers are inserted in the reading lift of the smart cards of automatic distributors or payment terminals. Which makes their detection difficult.
Despite everything, the cybersecurity agency gives some advice to avoid being swarmed when you have to make a payment on the terminal of a gas station.
First, you can try to inspect the card reader. You could identify signs of falsification: unusual protuberances, or damaged parts, signs that the terminal was manipulated and tampered with.
But above all, when you can, opt for contactless payment. “When you press your card to pay, you reduce the risk of shimming”. Or, even better, your digital wallet from your smartphone (Apple Pay or Google Pay).
