Card skimming device report prompts warning from Boston police

The discovery of a skimming device connected to a bank ATM at the East Boston CVS prompted police to warn the public about the ongoing scam.

Sometime between June 5 and June 6, a temporary ATM card slot and pinhole camera were removed from a Santander ATM inside the CVS at 210 Border Street, police said.

The victims told police they noticed the card slot was “narrower” than usual, and the pin plate appeared to be different in material from the rest of the plastic machine, the Boston Police Department said. He wrote in a community alert.

The ATM also has a small hole drilled into it, which is common for a pinhole camera. Police said store badges were also noted to be missing from the machine.

BPD said the skimmers are common at ATMs and point-of-sale terminals at pharmacies, gas stations and grocery stores.

BPD said criminal organizations use card skimming devices to copy a victim’s card information, which is then encoded onto a credit, debit or other financial card, allowing thieves to make unauthorized purchases.

Thieves have designed the skimmers to look identical to ATM or point-of-sale machine parts. Pinhole cameras, sometimes the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, are typically drilled near pin pads to record the victim’s pin code, Boston police said.

“At payment terminals, they design plastic covers similar to the top of a regular POS terminal,” the Boston Police Department wrote.

The public can take steps to protect themselves from skimming devices. Police said skimmers can be loosely attached to machines, so if any part of an ATM or point-of-sale device is unsafe, do not use it and contact the merchant immediately.

Police said the broken PIN pad lights are another sign that the device may have been tampered with.

Police are advising the public to use credit cards instead of debit cards so they can bypass the PIN requirement. Police said some form of contactless payment is also recommended.

If a cardholder believes his or her card information has been stolen, contact the card issuer’s fraud department and immediately report the incident, deactivate the card, and obtain a new PIN, police said.