PHILADELPHIA -
Take a good look at the man in this surveillance video. Philadelphia police say he and a female accomplice went on a shopping spree on another person's dime.
It turns out these two got a hold of a woman's credit card information through a process known as "skimming," stealing someone's credit card information and making a bogus card.
Police say the pair racked up a thousand dollars worth of charges before the victim noticed.
"Basically, what skimming is someone sticks some type of device, some type of card reader – typically, with ATM cards – inside a banking device, ATM, a checkout scan – and, when you swipe your card, it actually makes an identical copy," said Anthony Mongeluzo, of ProComputerService.com. "So, it duplicates the entire card, thus giving the perpetrators full access to your banking, your checking. And, again, too, remember: One, the device reads the card, and two, it captures your PIN."
Mongeluzo added that, when it comes to stopping a skimming scam,
"Realistically, it's tough to find the devices now, is you look at your credit card the strip is really thin, you're not going to go up to an ATM machine and start peeking in and look at the device. What you need to do is, you need to look every day. You need to look at your bank account, especially when you're making purchases
Robert Sicilliano, an identity theft expert, told Fox News that, because the skimmers need your PIN to use the information they've taken off the card's magnetic strip, there's usually a small, wireless camera to try and get your number.
"Always cover up the keypad with your other hand as you're punching in your PIN so they can't get your PIN code so they can't make a withdrawal out of your account," Sicilliano said.
Experts also say you should change your PIN number from time to time, and don't use the same pin number for multiple cards.
FOX 29's Steve Keeley filed this live report Tuesday morning with more details.
