Look carefully. Have you ever seen an ATM that looks like this?

If you stick your debit card into this machine, you’ve been scammed.

The machine looked like this before it was modified:

The added “skimmer” steals the information on the debit card’s magnetic strip. The information is transmitted over a wireless connection to the nearby crooks.The camera in the brochure box next to the machine will capture your PIN as it is typed in:

This modified ATM will work perfectly while it is actually being used, and the victims won’t know they’ve been scammed until after they notice the fraudulent activity on their statement or get a call from their bank.

On the bright side, this scam occurs rarely, but is on the rise internationally. Other modified ATM scams to be aware of are the decoy deposit box. The box looks like a regular deposit box. The only difference is that the deposits are collected by criminals.

Though it is always important to make sure that you’re using a real ATM, far and away the most common ATM scam is committed by the thief leering over your shoulder. Covering PINs with your hand while typing them in is one of the best practices you can implement at an ATM, even if there’s nobody around.