What is a credit card skimmer?
In the security industry, a skimmer has traditionally referred to any hardware device designed to steal information stored on payment cards when consumers perform transactions at ATMs, gas pumps and other payment terminals. More recently, the use of the term has been extended to include malicious software or code that achieves the same goal on e-commerce websites by targeting payment card data inputted during online purchases.
Whether hardware- or software-based, skimmers are tools that enable fraud. The data they capture is used to either clone physical payment cards or to perform fraudulent card-not-present transactions online.
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Read the complete article: Credit card skimmers explained: How they work and how to protect yourself