RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - In the new year, there’s a new worry about the way thieves are getting their hands on other people’s money.
This method is similar to card skimmers, but a new technique targets the chip in your card that’s supposed to help prevent identity theft.
Immune from skimming, a common scam in which thieves attach a device to credit card readers at places like gas stations or like this grocery store, a device reads and copies information from the magnetic stripe, allowing scammers to clone your card for later use or to sell on the dark web.
It’s known as “shimming.”
“Unfortunately I think it’s just the cost of doing business, meaning living in the digital era,” said Supervisory Special Agent Mark Knoll with the Richmond FBI.