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economist suntribune business thursday may 2 2002 debit cards one swipe can wipe you out crooks using hightech devices to steal card information by jeff mitchell staff writer anne vividly remembers the wave of panic that swept over her when she learned someone somewhere had gained access to her bank account and was making withdrawals i freaked said the aurora woman my first thought was someones cleaned out my bank account fortunately anne not her real name was not held liable for the more than 1500 thieves took from her account in cash and purchases unfortunately she has been left shaken her faith in the integrity of the banking system and the use of banking cards which she took for granted as being safe badly dete riorated now im terrified to use my card anywhere said the 37yearoid single mother anne was the victim of card skimming a process by which crooks use technology to steal information from the magnetic strip on your bank card and more importantly obtain your personal identification number pin the fourdigit code required for any transaction socalled swipe boxes the small hidden devices used to steal information from the card are fair ly prevalent said york regional police det fred kerr and its easy to manufacture a bogus plastic card the tricky part is obtaining your pin once they have that theyre off to the races det kerr said thieves use a number of tactics to obtain pins it is simplest for them when cardholders give the information away by keeping the number in a wallet or purse or even on the card itself they can also engage in shoul der surfing which can involve having an accomplice literally look ing over your shoulder as you enter the pin on a keypad and in some cases hidden pinhole cameras can be trained on fixed interac keypads det kerr advises bank card users to be careful where they use their cards and above all to protect their pin to that end you should insist on making transactions only with handheld keypads he said fixed keypads can be positioned so your pin can be recorded surreptitiously dont use that det kerr said theres no reason for that keypad to be bolted to a desk he said our increasing depend ence on convenience and the technology it entails leaves us vul nerable to crooks who will stop at nothing to breach security meas ures and get at your money with the expansion of new technology a lot of people are not carrying cash anymore said det kerr weve got to be vigilant we do love our bank cards in fact canada leads the world in swiping in 2001 interac the association responsible for a national system allowing financial institutions to participate in a net work of shared services tracked an astonishing 22 billion transactions involving bank cards in one day during the christmas shopping season dec 22 2001 there were 108 million swipes nationwide anne had happily adopted the nations preference for the bank card over cash i almost never pay cash she said i use my bank card for every thing so she was perplexed a couple of weeks ago when her bank card wouldnt work when she tried to buy lunch at mcdonalds later that saturday she went to a banking machine to withdraw cash the machine abruptly devoured her card leaving her without access to her account and no idea why it was tuesday before she could go to the bank branch in newmarket to get an explanation what she heard shocked hen some one had used a card to deposit an empty envelope in a toronto bank machine the previous friday claim ing it was a 5000 deposit the thieves then withdrew 1000 in two increments of 500 and went on to rack up a purchase in excess of 500 at a lawrence avenue meat market anne was stunned the panic was welling up she said 1 was panicked bills were due i had already sent out cheques i didnt know what money was left in the account christine victim of debit card fraud it took a week during which her account was frozen to sort the mat ter out in the end the bank determined she was not responsible for the skimming and would not be on the hook for more than 1500 that was a relief but the experience still left her rattled she said christine a sutton resident was similarly shaken when she received a call from her bank on a friday advising her not to use her card and to report to the branch as soon as she could christine also a pseudonym received a message stating our account had possibly been breached that someone had possibly used our bank card and had access to our account she said i was panicked christine said bills were due i had already sent out cheques i didnt know what money was left in the account as it turned out the bank had caught the breach before any major withdrawals occurred and christine had a new card and pen the same day but her quest to find out more about the circumstances of the breach has been unsuccessful not one person called me back she said perhaps not surprisingly local banks are reluctant to discuss the extent of bank card fraud and the measures employed to combat it so is the canadian bankers association the cba and all banks contact ed for this article refused to divulge statistics on incidents relating to bank cards referring to fraud and theft as systemic problems but everyone seems to know someone even if its a friend of a friend who has been affected by a breach of their bank card security sara feldman vicepresident of communications and marketing with interac also refused to dis cuss the prevalence of fraud and specific security measures but she stressed the industrys commit ment to fostering cooperation among financial institutions and the police to nab crooks quickly and secure convictions zero incidents would be per fect and thats what we aim for ms feldman said and when fraud happens we move and move quickly we like to get on it as soon as possible the members can pool their information and seek the common alties in a trail left by thieves we have a number of good weapons in our arsenal to handle these things she said we have a very high success rate of capturing these perpetrators and convicting them for the system of detection and pursuit to work properly it is incumbent on card holders to be vigilant ms feldman said that begins with using ones card carefully and protecting the pin as well as keeping track of bank statements and j i immediately reporting any suspect transactions she said anne meanwhile is left ponder ing a banking system based on technology that grows year in and out and she feels has the poten tial for more attacks i think the crooks are always going to be one step ahead she said 4747 hwy 7 wtivv t m wed 106 pm east of kennedy where quality thursfri 109 pm markham makes saturdays 105 pm 905 4775524 the difference closed sunday