Credit Card Skimming
Credit card skimmers are devices that latch onto legitimate credit card readers and steal the information off of them. When you swipe your card at a store or an ATM, the skimmer reads your info, too, and stores it so that the thief who placed it can come back and collect all of those names and numbers. These skimmers fit so cleanly over the actual card reader that you might not even know that it's there, especially if you're unfamiliar with them.
Skimmers rely on the magnetic strip of a credit card for its information thievery, which is why the move to chip cards recently became mandatory. Unfortunately, because of backwards compatibility issues, our cards still have the magnetic strip. So now they have all of the weaknesses of the old cards, plus all of the weaknesses of using signatures alongside PINs, plus all the weaknesses that the chip cards have.
All in all, your credit card is just sort of bleeding information left and right, and there's not an awful lot that you can do about that.
Did you know...
- Do you know what the lifespan of U.S. currency is? The higher the denomination, the longer it stays in circulation. Both $50 and $100 bills last 9 years. The $20 sticks around for 4 years. $10 bills circulate for 3 years. The $5 bill has a 2-year lifespan, and the $1 bill only lasts around 18 months before being retired. Coins last around 30 years.
- When it comes to counterfeiters, North Korea are pros. They have gotten so good at counterfeiting American currency (particularly the $50 and $100 bills) they their fakes are known as "superdollars." They require specialized Federal Reserve equipment to be identified. There are $45 million worth of North Korean fakes…that we know of.
- There are over 1.6 million automated teller machines around the world. And that really does mean the entire world. There are even two ATMs on Antarctica at McMurdo Station operated by Wells Fargo. Friday is the most popular day that ATMs are used worldwide, and the average withdrawal is around $80.
- Have you ever wondered who prints the most money? That would be Hasbro, as in the makers of Monopoly. Hasbro prints more Monopoly money in a given year than there is money in the entire world. Each set of the game comes with $20,580. Bet you didn’t know you had that much money lying around the house!
- It's an understatement to say that the odds when playing the lottery are not in your favor. You are statistically three times more likely to die in a car accident while driving 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win. Even more astounding, over half the tickets in an average lottery draw are bought by only 5% of the participants.