A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data on the magnetic stripe on the card. The magnetic stripe may contain multiple tracks on which data may be recorded. International standards prescribe, for example, the size of the card, the location of the magnetic stripe and the formats of data recorded on the magnetic stripe. For example, international standards for bankcards including, without limitation, ATM cards, credit cards, and debit cards may prescribe a card size of 3.375 inches long by 2.125 inches wide.
Such standards may also prescribe, for example, the location and width of an elongate magnetic stripe extending across the back of the card on which may be encoded a Bank Identification Number (BIN) or Issuer Identification Number (IIN) in data recorded, for example, on a left-hand portion of the magnetic stripe running to a point near the middle of the magnetic stripe and a cardholder's account information on a right-hand portion of the magnetic stripe.
The magnetic stripe may be read by a magnetic read head of a card reader, for example, of an automated teller machine (ATM) to enable the cardholder to perform an ATM transaction. The card reader captures the cardholder's account information and the BIN or IIN recorded on the magnetic stripe, which may be sent to a host processor coupled to the ATM. The host processor may use such information to route the transaction to the cardholder's bank. An ATM keypad may let the cardholder enter a personal identification number (PIN) and information about the transaction which the cardholder wishes to perform.
In addition, magnetic stripe card readers may be deployed to control access to areas, such as ATM lobbies or vestibules, that are provided with doors secured by electric locks. Such electric door locks may be unlocked, for example, by swiping a properly encoded magnetic stripe card at the card reader. Such deployment may be referred to as an “access control card reader” (“ACCR”). If the proper credentials are encoded on the magnetic stripe, a controller to which the card reader of the ACCR is coupled may send a signal to the electric door lock to unlock the door and admit the cardholder. Thus, cardholders may gain access to such locked ATM lobbies or vestibules by swiping their properly encoded bankcards through a card reader of the ACCR. Typically, the bankcard used for such access may be any valid bankcard such as an ATM card, a credit card, or a debit card issued by a financial institution.
In recent years, huge economic losses have been incurred as a result of the theft and fraudulent use by criminals of cardholders' credentials recorded on the magnetic stripe of their bankcards. One way in which such theft occurs is a criminal practice referred to as “skimming” of bankcard information when a bankcard is used in an otherwise legitimate transaction.
A growing problem of skimming involves criminals putting a device with a skimming read head, such as an overlay, over a card slot of an ATM or ACCR which reads the magnetic stripe as the cardholder unknowingly passes his or her bankcard through the card slot to be read by the internal read head of the ATM or ACCR. The skimming read head reads the same bankcard information that is read by the ATM or ACCR read head and records or sends the information to the criminals.
In another technique, criminal skimmers may access the internal read head of the ATM or ACCR and attach a recording device that can record data from the magnetic stripe card. Regardless of the skimming technique used, it is important to criminal skimmers to make sure that the device at which their skimming activity occurs, such as an ATM or ACCR, continues to work so that cardholders are unaware that their bankcards are being illegally recorded.
In the past, various anti-skimming solutions have been deployed on ATMs across the U.S. Some such solutions have done an effective job of preventing skimming at ATMs for at least a while. However, as may be expected, criminals have found their way to skimming at unprotected ACCRs over time. Consequently, skimmers have defrauded, and are continuing to defraud, financial institutions out of many millions of dollars.
There is a present need for magnetic stripe card readers and methods that avoid exposing a cardholder's account information to potential theft by skimmers when the cardholder uses his or her magnetic stripe card at an ACCR to access a locked premises, such as an ATM vestibule or lobby.