News

Cardholder Education



Educating cardholders is invaluable to not only protect the cardholder from potential skimming events but also allowing them to be "inspectors" to help identify such events.

  • Be aware of your surroundings and suspicious activity and/or people in the area and when possible use familiar ATMs and devices to have a better feel for these surroundings.
  • Be familiar with how gas pump payment devices look where you frequently fill up.
  • Pay close attention to the card reader and keyboard areas for obvious tampering such as color distortion, glue, cracked surfaces, etc.
  • When available, educate cardholders on the purpose of the card reader lead through indicator (i.e., blinking LED light) and that if it is distorted or not visible it may indicate a skimming device.
  • Use preventive measures such as covering the keyboard with one hand when entering their PIN with the other.
Make cardholders aware that ATMs are not the only devices on which skimming devices are installed. They are also installed on other credit card devices such as fuel pumps, merchant POS terminals, DVD rental devices, rest stop vending machines, etc.