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- Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!uknet!gdt!mapmef
- From: mapmef@gdr.bath.ac.uk (M E Fletcher)
- Newsgroups: sci.crypt
- Subject: Re: PIN codes (partial summary)
- Message-ID: <1992Jul25.152357.8662@gdr.bath.ac.uk>
- Date: 25 Jul 92 15:23:57 GMT
- References: <1992Jul21.131915.7708@vax.oxford.ac.uk>
- Organization: School of Mathematics, University of Bath, UK
- Lines: 38
-
- In article <1992Jul21.131915.7708@vax.oxford.ac.uk> roes@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
- >On July 9 1992 I wrote:
- >
- >> I recently saw an article in a Dutch newspaper (Vrij
- >> Nederland,13/06/92), stating that PIN codes on cash machine
- >> cards are not as safe as most people think or the banks would
- >> like us to believe. The article described a number of cases
- >> were money was taken from cash machines with stolen cards. In
- >> each case the owners of the cards were insisting that the PIN
- >> code was never written down and nobody else new it. In one
- >> case the owner did not even new the code herself. In spite of
- >> this, it turned out that the PIN code was typed correctly the
- >> first time and sometimes shortly after the card was stolen
- >> (after about 20 minutes).
- >
- >> I do not know how reliable this information is, but is there
- >> anybody who can tell me if *in principle* it is possible to
- >> retrieve the four digit PIN code from a stolen cash machine
- >> card?
- >
-
- You didnt't mention an even easier way:
-
- Watch someone keying in their pin from behind them in the queue. Most
- people type in numbers on keyboards very slowly, so this is easy
- enough. Now wait and hope that they don't bother picking up their
- receipt. You now have their account number (helpfully printed on
- the receipt) and their PIN. Now you need a little machine to encode
- the magnetic strips on plastic cards, plus a few blank cards. These
- are widely available for a few hundred quid. Encode the appropriate
- number and you can now withdraw money from their account.
-
- Moral: Don't let anyone see you type in your PIN, and always keep
- your receipts.
-
-
-
- Matt
-