How do people steal money from credit and debit cards?

Question

Let's say I use my credit or debit card at a store and haven't lost it or anything. How would a thief steal?

What do they do? How do they do it? How can I prevent this from ever happening to me?

Answer 1

They use just the number.  Just be careful with your card.  Sometimes they get it from hacking though.

Just cancel it immediately and you won't have to pay.  

By the way, beware of fake bank emails as well, and never give away ANY of your info.  Once someone gets your information and pin they can steal every cent in your bank account and there is no insurance on that.  Its gone and you are broke.

Several ATM card numbers including my dad's were recently stolen from my bank, thankfully they didn't know any of the pins and the bank canceled the card immediately and sent him a new one.

Stuff can happen, but as long as you are always super careful it should never be too much a problem.  Just always keep your guard up.

Answer 2

The most common method is called "skimming" which is where the bad guys read the data off your cards magnetic strip and then program a card they have with the same data.

The skimmer is occasionally handheld and used by a retail employee at the point of sale, or it is camoflaged and added to a bank machine so that every person who uses the machine gets their data captured.

In the case of credit cards this is really all they need to do to start using it, but credit cardholders are protected from fraud and fraud departments are very efficient at detecting unusual behavior.

With debit cards they still need your PIN after they get the card data so a person may watch you enter your PIN (which is why they tell you to ALWAYS protect your PIN), a camera may be used to record your PIN or a small membrane overlay may be used to electronically capture your PIN.

Safeguarding yourself means using the ABMs at your bank instead of the no-name ABMs at the convenience store or bar. It means using your body and other hand to block your PIN number completely from view and it means paying attention to that little voice inside you that tells you when something is not right.

You should also make sure that your savings account is "delinked" from your debit card, your ABM daily withdrawl / spending limits are lowered as much as you can afford and that you only keep as much in your chequing account as you need.

In this way you limit your exposure to fraud and guarantee your loss will be limited should your card details become compromised.

Hope this was some help!