http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/05/foiling-pump-skimmers-with-gps/
By Brian Krebs
Krebs on Security
May 4, 2015
Credit and debit card skimmers secretly attached to gas pumps are an
increasingly common scourge throughout the United States. But the tables
can be turned when these fraud devices are discovered, as evidenced by one
California police department that has eschewed costly and time-consuming
stakeouts in favor of affixing GPS tracking devices to the skimmers and
then waiting for thieves to come collect their bounty.
One morning last year the Redlands, Calif. police department received a
call about a skimming device that was found attached to a local gas pump.
This wasn’t the first call of the day about such a discovery, but Redlands
police didn’t exactly have time to stake out the compromised pumps.
Instead, they attached a specially-made GPS tracking device to the pump
skimmer.
At around 5 a.m. the next morning, a computer screen at the Redlands PD
indicated that the compromised skimming device was on the move. The GPS
device that the cops had hidden inside the skimmer was beaconing its
location every six seconds, and the police were quickly able to determine
that the skimmer was heading down a highway adjacent to the gas station
and traveling at more than 50 MPH. Using handheld radios to pinpoint the
exact location of the tracker, the police were able to locate the
suspects, who were caught with several other devices implicating them in
an organized crime ring.
[...]
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