Buy Your Ticket and be Taken For a Ride

Credit card "skimmers" found on ticket machine at Grand Central:

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Sk ... 43201.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Officials said this particular skimming device appeared to be more sophisticated and natural-looking than ones found in the past: it was made of metal, like the real card slots on the ticket machines".

Kudos to MNRR employees for finding the thing before it caused any damage and for helping catch the guy.

For once I'm glad I live on the Waterbury branch (ca$h, yay!) and use Google Wallet in the new TVM bank in GCT to buy my return tickets (contactless, can't be skimmed)

"Police disabled the device and put it back, waiting for the suspect to return to retrieve it." I love it!

What concerns me is the cast-metal appearance of this device. I have to expect that this is NOT a one-of-a-kind item.

Based on recurring cases on both MNCR and LIRR (and at least one NYCT MetroCard vending machine), it seems this may be a connected scheme or conspiracy.

runningwithscalpels wrote:For once I'm glad I live on the Waterbury branch (ca$h, yay!) and use Google Wallet in the new TVM bank in GCT to buy my return tickets (contactless, can't be skimmed)

Though I assume other security measures prevent other potential issues that contactles systems like this can and do face.

I'm not 100% sure how it works, but because my bank card is a Visa debit, it assigns me a virtual Mastercard number, which is what the TVM receives, and theoretically any scammers too. You also have to enter a PIN after tapping your phone on the area, so you still kind of have to authorize the transaction in that sense, and if you lose your phone you can remotely disable the app from a computer.

while related or maybe not...
It seems I can use my arrival+ Barclaycard credit card on redemption rewards for MNRR tickets