Ireland investigating fake credit card reader scam
Irish officials say scammers replaced credit card readers and snagged data from 10,000 or so cards.
Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
If you've used a credit card reader in Ireland recently you may want to call your credit card company and monitor your account.
Scammers posing as bank workers replaced credit card readers in retail stores in northeast Ireland with fake readers that captured the data on as many as 10,000 credit and debit cards, according to an IDG News Service report.
The Bank of Ireland shut down some cards and limited overseas withdrawals, while Ireland's National Police Service launched an investigation.
Criminals can make clone cards with the data they get off the magnetic stripe from the cards that pass through the dummy readers.