News

ATM skimming device dealer joins the good guys

May 20, 2013

They say it takes a thief to catch a thief — or in this case, to stop one. A Romanian criminal serving a 5-year prison sentence for supplying an organized crime gang with devices used in skimming has now invented a device to prevent skimming by the likes of his previous comrades in crime.

Valentin Boanta said that following his arrest, he began to understand the full extent of the harm his actions had caused, so he started working on his anti-skimming device during his trial to make amends.

"Crime was like a drug for me," Boanta told Reuters. "After I was caught, I was happy I escaped from this adrenaline addiction. So that the other part, in which I started to develop security solutions, started to emerge."

Boanta's design foils skimming devices by accepting the card from the long side. The SRS takes in the card, rotates it, and inserts it into the machine's card reader, which is inaccessible from the outside of the ATM. The transaction then proceeds as usual; the card is rotated back to the user.

Boanta told Reuters that his invention is foolproof. "Every ATM can be penetrated through a skimming crime. My security solution, SRS, makes an ATM unbreachable." And importantly, it can be installed on any ATM, he said.

A company called MB Telecom paid for development of the of the patented SRS concept. MB Telecom president, Mircea Tudor said Boanta "fully deserves ... recognition. He's taking part in improving Romania's image abroad and he'll surely join our team when released."

The device, which does not yet have a price tag, is being shopped around by Gnosis Kernel. The company has created an animation (below) that demonstrates how the SRS works.