Thieves with iPhones will never satisfy their lust for stealing your PIN code

[GasBandit]

Thermal imaging technology has advanced to the point where it's small and cheap enough to snap on to a smartphone. The heat left behind from you fingers on a plastic or rubber keypad is enough for them to get it 80% of the time. So, like the guy in the video says, rest your fingers for a few seconds on ALL the keys..

Or just do like Gas Bandit, and pay with an actual credit card, which doesn't use a PIN.

 

[Dave]

Very interesting.

 

[Bones]

Thats some crazy shit. I want a card from the nordic countries were there is a pin generator. Extra work but good luck stealing the info. You need the card and the key generator.

 

[PatrThom]

I've gotten the chance to play with that new $350 device, one of the other people nearby wondered what it could possibly be good for.
"Well," I said, "there's the pictures of the house on the box, good for checking for leaks, and also you can use it to see how 'into' you someone is."
"Huh?" they replied.
"Well, any areas of your body receiving extra blood flow will get warmer as a result."
"Oh. Oh! Ohhhhhhh..."

Anyhow, defeating this method is trivially easy. Use the attached signature pen (or other stylus) to depress the buttons. Easy.

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

I've gotten the chance to play with that new $350 device, one of the other people nearby wondered what it could possibly be good for.
"Well," I said, "there's the pictures of the house on the box, good for checking for leaks, and also you can use it to see how 'into' you someone is."
"Huh?" they replied.
"Well, any areas of your body receiving extra blood flow will get warmer as a result."
"Oh. Oh! Ohhhhhhh..."

Anyhow, defeating this method is trivially easy. Use the attached signature pen (or other stylus) to depress the buttons. Easy.

--Patrick

Or just breathe all over everything heavily, warming it with your breath.

 

[PatrThom]

I suppose that's a less technological method to let someone know you're into them. Or want to be.
Less likely to succeed, though.

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

I suppose that's a less technological method to let someone know you're into them. Or want to be.
Less likely to succeed, though.

--Patrick

It depends on whether or not the subject has just given you clippings from her grandfather.

 

[HCGLNS]

If only I had this technology .... 17 years ago. Fuck was it that long ago? Damn I'm Dave.

 

[Bowielee]

A PIN by itself is useless.

Unless the party is being stalked by someone to be able to get their personal information and debit card numbers, I don't think there is anything to worry about. And if someone is stalking you that badly, I think you actually have bigger problems than your bank account being compromised.

 

[GasBandit]

A PIN by itself is useless.

Unless the party is being stalked by someone to be able to get their personal information and debit card numbers, I don't think there is anything to worry about. And if someone is stalking you that badly, I think you actually have bigger problems than your bank account being compromised.

It may be the case that mugging someone is not worthwhile since they probably won't tell you their PIN number. But once you have the PIN, you can clock them on the head and take their wallet, and drain their account (up to their daily maximum anyway) before they regain consciousness.

 

[Bowielee]

You're ascribing a heck of a lot of tech savvy and forethought to muggers.

 

[GasBandit]

You're ascribing a heck of a lot of tech savvy and forethought to muggers.

The real trick is to single out somebody ahead of time that is going to use a debit card. It's not like you can hang around at checkout just waiting for somebody to whip out a debit card and then jump in line behind them.

 

[PatrThom]

TIt's not like you can hang around at checkout just waiting for somebody to whip out a debit card and then jump in line behind them.

Well, you could, but that'd mean spending a lot of time on the surveillance cameras.

--Patrick

 

[Bubble181]

pay with an actual credit card, which doesn't use a PIN.

...In the United States
....which makes it even easier to empty the card
...bunch of backwards hicks

 

[GasBandit]

...In the United States
....which makes it even easier to empty the card
...bunch of backwards hicks

Nah, there are other failsafes. If my credit card gets used in a suspicious manner (trying to withdraw a lot of cash, used for the first time somewhere I've never used it before, etc) the bank calls/texts me and asks "is this you doing this?"

Hell, it's been tripped from me buying stuff on steam, and I do that fairly regularly.

So.. basically, unless the thief decides to use the card exclusively at Kroger (and I guess he might, if he's smart enough to do the Laundry Detergent shuffle) and then only to about 100 bucks, he's getting caught pretty fast.

 

[Covar]

Personal liability on my credit and debit cards are so low, that i'll just deal with the couple days of annoyance than bother panicking over someone stealing my PIN in a checkout line.

 

[Jax]

Nah, there are other failsafes. If my credit card gets used in a suspicious manner (trying to withdraw a lot of cash, used for the first time somewhere I've never used it before, etc) the bank calls/texts me and asks "is this you doing this?"

Do they ask this before or after the transaction?

 

[GasBandit]

Do they ask this before or after the transaction?

Almost immediately after. If I say that's not me, I don't get charged, the card gets shut down, investigation starts.

 

[Jax]

In terms of how easy it is to steal money or stuff through a card, then i'd say a debit card is still more safe than a credit card. All you need is the card, perhaps even just the number, whereas you'd need to steal both the card and the PIN to be able to use the debit card.

 

[Bowielee]

Not really, most debit cards function as credit cards now. To get cash from either you need a PIN, so I'd say it's equivalent.