Recently I noticed that banks began securing they ATMs against skimmers: ATMs display a picture of card reader with a message "Please make sure it looks like the one on the picture. If not, don't insert your card and call us."

I wonder if this works.

To be honest, getting money from an ATM is one of those activities I do largely on auto-pilot. I couldn't guarantee I would actually read each screen, more I know what to look for and hit the big withdraw button!

Perhaps it's time to take a little more care with this particular activity.

sounds like the "don't use if seal is broken" warning. if i'm planning on tampering with it, wouldn't i remove the warning about the broken seal too?

Depends on the design. I think the glass jars do this really really well. The seal is obvious - and it can easily be checked if it's broken or not

You'd have to hack into ATM and change its software instead of just attaching the skimmer.

The warning is displayed on the computer monitor.

Some of the skimmers i've seen pics of online are pretty darn convincing. I'm definitely going to try and keep a eye out and always try to be a little "rough" with the card slot at atms.

I remember reading in one of Bruce Schneier's books that some clever thiefs set up a fake ATM machine outside the Burlington Mall in CT. When people went to withdraw money, the machine recorded their credentials and then displayed an ambiguous error message.

You have to wonder how they got the information from the machine, as it would have been relatively easy for the police to watch it once someone figured out it was a fake.

WiFi

All on ATM skimmers: http://logs.shashikant.in/post/98607370/what-is-an-atm-skimm...

The card skimmers I see now are lit up with an internal ring of green LEDs to reassure the consumer (I always whack it with my hand).