Skimming scams have continued to be on the rise, according to data analytics firm FICO, which noted a 96% increase in such scams in 2023. According to the FBI, skimming scams cost consumers upwards of a billion dollars a year in the United States.
In 2023 and 2024, the FBI and department of justice issued multiple releases about Romanian organized crime activity linked to credit card skimming activity in the United States, in multiple locations that ranged from Los Angeles, California to Norfolk, Virginia, and the arrests of multiple Romanian nationals related to those activities.
In one case, the FBI announced that an operation in Romania targeted 84 sites related to credit card skimming fraud, resulting in the arrests of 48 subjects and seizure of over 8,000 stolen credit card numbers as well as approximately $1 million USD worth of various currencies.
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That case noted it was the "culmination of a three-year investigation conducted by the FBI and Romanian authorities targeting organized crime figures conducting ATM skimming operations in the United States and the money laundering apparatus used to send the profits of their crimes through western Europe back to Romania."
In Oct. 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Western District of Pennsylvania announced that two Romanian nationals were sentenced for skimming fraud in Pittsburgh.
According to public advisories provided by the FBI, there are many forms of credit card skimmers, which typically depend on the target.
Targets of such scams can be ATMs, point-of-sale terminals such as self-checkouts, or fuel pumps, the FBI said. Skimming devices can be placed on, or inside of ATMs and fuel pumps, but are normally placed on the exterior of self checkouts.
In ATM and point-of-sale skimmers, the devices can be inserted into the card reader, placed over the keypad, or overlayed on the terminal.
Point-of-sale terminal skimmers are typically designed to be fast to install, the FBI said, due to the need to distract store clerks while the device is placed. In some instances, a keypad may be installed overtop of the device's keypad, to copy the keystrokes of a customer's pin.
Skimming devices most often hold data to be recovered later, but some may transmit the data wirelessly, the FBI said.
Harrison Jones is the Hanover reporter for The Evening Sun. Contact him at hjones@gannett.com.