ATM skimmers have always been an issue since the inception of ATMs. Convenience for consumers, also comes with ways for criminals to conveniently commit crimes. People have thought the skimmers would go away with time, but ATM skimmers have actually become more advanced and even harder to detect.

Thankfully there is a trend ATM criminals follow. They usually target ATMs in small locations, where the ATM is not actively monitored but still receives traffic. The thieves do not actually need much data to benefit from their skimmer, so a few credit cards they skim will actually still pay off, but that also means much more risk to the people that use the ATMs in comparison to a skimmer at a large location. So gas stations, the pump, and convenience stores have the highest likelihood of being targeted by ATM criminals.

Other locations like banks or restaurants usually have a lot of people and cameras so it would not be as safe to install a skimmer for the criminal. Even though they can simply act as a serviceman and install it, the time of installation varies as well. Because of the rampant ATM crime, companies have started to install safeguards to make it a lot more difficult to add an ATM skimmer. This is also why older and smaller shops are targeted as the older ATMs do not have any safeguards.

But as long as your card has a magnetic strip, you can’t be 100% safe. Anything that you insert your card into can have a chance of reading the magnetic strip, so make sure you check before you insert your card in older ATM machines.