Meet the “Skim Reaper.”
The NYPD is testing a new gadget that officials hope will turn the tide in the war against credit card skimmers, the department said Wednesday.
Cops have been trying out the Skim Reaper around the city since February, and believe that the $50 gizmo could help spell the end of a crime that, according to the Secret Service, rakes in more than a billion dollars each year nationwide.
Credit card skimmers — hard-to-spot devices covertly installed on ATM and gas station pump card readers that “skim” credit card numbers — have plagued the city in recent years, said the NYPD’s Financial Crimes Task Force head.
“The problem is that it’s transient. They [thieves] come in and place the device and move on,” Deputy Inspector Christopher Flanagan told The Associated Press. “In early January we were getting killed.”
In February, Patrick Traynor — the University of Florida professor who, along with two grad students, invented the Skim Reaper — gave the NYPD five of the gadgets to test.
“I’ve been doing skimming for approximately five years now and I have never used anything like this,” said Det. James Lilla, also of the Financial Crimes Task Force. “It’s definitely an assist we can use to combat ATM skimming.”
Users insert the Skim Reaper, comparable in size to a long credit card, into a card reader, and a display screen reads “possible skimmer!” whenever one of the nefarious devices is detected.
One of the most attractive features of the Skim Reaper is that simplicity, allowing even cops who don’t normally investigate financial crimes to help track down skimmers, Flanagan said.
“I have four detectives who do the ATM skimming full time,” he said. “They’re all extremely busy with the amount of work we do, so when I can take someone who is untrained or has some more free time to go out and do these inspections, it certainly is a help.”
With Post Wires