Nationwide, a rather insidious type of identity theft that can affect thousands of consumers without a hint that it’s happening. Unfortunately, the scam is growing more common and problematic.
Skimming scams have been discovered in a wide variety of places around the country and can lead to significant issues not only for consumers, but for the businesses hit by them as well, according to a report from the Columbus Dispatch. Some incidents involve criminals either planting a device into machines that read;cards — such as point-of-sale machines, ATMs and gas pumps — or hacking into systems and installing malware that can affect a large number of terminals all at once. The crime has existed on some level for about a decade now, but seems to be growing far worse.