US cybercrime czar falls victim to skimmers

The Chair of the US Justice Department's Cybercrime Subcommittee, Jenny Durkan, has fallen victim to a gang of criminal skimming thieves who copied her bank card and drained her account of $1000.

The cybercrime czar told Seattle's King 5 News she was robbed of the cash in August after thieves stole her debit card information via a skimming device and camera mounted to a bank cash machine.

Durkan said she was in a hurry and didn't thoroughly check the fascia of the machine as she usually does.

"The thieves are very clever," says Durkan. "When it happens to you, you really feel victimised and you think, "Boy, I wish I'd been smarter that time".'

Police have yet to apprehend the gang behind the scam.

Channels

Retail banking Security Payments

Keywords

Cards

Comments: (3)

Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 06 September, 2011, 08:44

Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up

0 likes

One of the largest cyberfrauds in the USA - the so-called Onwuhara HELOC Fraud - was apparently solved after a massive investigation that was launched when the fraudsters had unwittingly plied their trade on one Robert "Duke" Short, a former U.S. Treasury agent and Treasury Department's national chief of investigations. Reporting on the story, this FORTUNE article commented, "He was ... the wrong man to hit".

Hopefully, these skimmers might similarly realize that Jenny Durkan "was the wrong woman to hit".

It's so ironical that these fraudsters steal someone's identity but don't really "get" who that somone is!

Report abuse

Trevor Jenkins - Maylands Consulting Ltd - Ilkley 06 September, 2011, 16:15

0 likes

Perhaps she will now press for the USA to move to EMV chip cards?

Report abuse

Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 07 September, 2011, 09:27

0 likes

I wouldn't bet my last dollar on that - historically, there seems to be a strong preference for addressing symptoms rather than eliminating root causes.