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Account-stealing bank machine skimmers are now virtually invisible
Bank machine skimmers, which swipe your account as you insert your card, have been getting increasingly harder to spot as the years go by; now, it looks like they're just about undetectable. Researchers at the European ATM Security Team have found skimmers that not only fit neatly into a card slot, but do a good job of hiding any other equipment they need to steal your info. One example (shown below) combined a virtually invisible skimmer with a cleverly hidden spy camera that recorded PIN code entries. Another disguised a system that captured card info through audio, and there are now translucent mini-scanners that even a keen eye might miss.
UK ATMs use cockney slang, we don't Adam 'n Eve it
If you're trying to innovate and be more inclusive, it's fine to have a local dialect -- as ATMs run by Bank Machine are doing in East London over the next few months -- but for the love of uncle Fred, don't use a lingo associated with wide boys and notorious criminals. For our American audience, imagine your reaction if your ATM asked if you'd like to "withdrizzle yo' monizzle, homie." Of course, in a world that already includes a Cockney Bible (not a joke), this sort of thing seems positively tame, and it is after all just an option. [Via Yahoo]
