They were touted as being more secure than the swipe for credit cards. But even those chip-embedded cards apparently are vulnerable to hackers.
It's called shimming and you may only just now be hearing about it. But shimming has actually been around for more than two years, according to Bankrate.com.
Shimming involves thieves shoving a thin device into the chip readers on the credit card terminals that will copy your data, WHIO reported.
And while the information contained on the chip, and potentially the shim, can't be used to clone a chip card, it can potentially be used to make a traditional magnetic strip card to empty your accounts, CreditCards.com reported.
Bryan Oglesby from the Better Business Bureau told WTVT that, "If you insert the card and it's very tight, that could be a sign. Report it to the merchant."
He also said to set up alerts on accounts to monitor if you've been hacked and check your accounts. Oglesby also suggested to use tap-and-pay with either your card or smartphone to make it harder for hackers to get your information, WTVT reported.
Cox Media Group
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