Card skimming/fraud

The only way to skim a modern card is the mag-stripe, you can hand it to anyone and as long as you can see it being tapped, you are golden, the only thing that can happen with tap is by proxy and by low $ amounts.

Your chip is safe too, that's all crypto stuff, you can't replicate it.

As such, you're limited to places that fully ingest your card or where you swipe the card. While swipe is mostly dead, some ATMs still use it, and they sure still take the card inside, meaning a skimming cover can still get the full card.

Though, it's a shame they print so much on the card visibly, as you can nearly replicate the strip that way. A bit of guesswork on common settings and you'll get most cards anyway.

They should take the mag-strip away, and stop printing the #'s on the front, but "compatibility" and "user friendly"... Anyway, make sure you know what the type of ATM your bank brand tends to use looks like, look for boxes, if things look strange, grab it and yank. Google for skimmers to see how devious these things are. That leaves the last weakness, cameras catching #'s...

Always cover your pin, though a skimmer may use an overlay keypad, so look for that.

Those pointy prongs on ATM green inserts are there for good reason.

And, as swipe is dead in AU, as long as you are not going overseas, feel free to grab some strong neodymium magnets and set them on either side of your mag-stripe and swipe away, you'll destroy the mag strip. Some ATMs will not work any more, but whatever.

In general, you have no reason to chip&pin, which protects your pin on a day to day basis. Only do it when absolutely required.

Okay story time, another post

/r/sydney Thread