Chip and PIN fraud kit for sale online

UK computing title The Register says it has alerted Apacs to an underground forum post spotted by Net security firm PrevX that suggests expertise on defeating anti-tampering protection on older Chip & PIN card terminals can be bought for as little as $4000.

One thread, posted in early July, is from someone in the UK asking for information on how to skim Ingenico and Dione Chip-and-PIN machines, followed by a response from someone claiming to offer skimmers a tutorial on how to compromise these devices.

"This Russian guy was offering know-how on how to bypass anti-tampering protection, including schematics and a specialist bluetooth transmitter and receiver for $4,000," Jacques Erasmus, director of research at Prevx told El Reg. "It wasn't a particularly difficult hack and just involves soldering in a few wires to hook up a bluetooth transmitter, which is used to download data from compromised devices onto a laptop running custom software."