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This post is from a different site. I just thought I should share it here. If you go to the original post it has pictures to go with it, the site also has a ton of other good free stuff right there.
You should definitely check it out.
I constantly see discussion about people wanting skimmers, or information on how to build them. I thought I would come forward with the dinosaur model I've been using forever. First things first, I want you to know that these days some ATM manufacturers have started implementing a type of magnetic sensor in the casings to their card readers to detect if anything has been placed around it. If this is the case this type of skimmer wouldn't work, you would need something insertable.
I suppose you're wondering, "how in the actual fuck am I supposed to know which ATM's do or don't have a security feature like that?"
So I have a test for that, and boy did I nail it (pun intended).
You're going to take any steel nail (or any other piece of magnetic metal) and place it on top of card slot on the ATM. Tape it in place and move to a place where you can safely watch the ATM parking lot without being suspicious. Wait between 30 minutes and 1 hour. If nobody shows up to check on a triggered alarm you're safe to remove that nail or piece of metal and you'll be safe to place this device on that ATM. If that security feature is in place you won't have to worry about removing the nail, there's going to be some type of local authorities there to investigate and ensure a skimming device hasn't been placed onto the ATM. You more than likely won't even raise suspicion, a patrol officer would be going out to look at it after being contacted by the ATM manufacturer or whoever they hire to maintain that security system. These street officers are going to see a nail or some bullshit taped to an ATM and assume it was a kid doing something random or something they thought was funny. It's unlikely a regular officer would make the connection that it's to test the waters of the security features, and without there being anything found there it's unlikely they'll ever mention it to anyone after they leave that scene. If you set off more than one of those systems for the same company or where the same department responds to the report then they're more than likely going to make that connection and you should take extra care when working there or in surrounding areas as they've likely upped patrols in those areas due to multiple machines being found like that.
Anyway, let's assume the best case happened and nothing happened after an hour. Now we know that we can use this type of device there, so we're going to move forward with our build.
You're going to need a bezel that overlays on the existing card reader slot. These are different for different ATM models and can be 3d printed if you have a good quality printer and the proper filaments or you can find one online. These are actually fairly easy to get your hands on through legitimate clear-net sites. These are just pieces of plastic that matches how those ATM parts look and are just slightly larger to sit over-top of them properly and comfortable, so it's not illegal for a store to sell and it's not illegal for you to buy. But it'll definitely raise some questions if anyone actually knows what it is from looking at it without any context.
Let's assume you've also hurdled that task and you now have an ATM that didn't trigger an alarm from metal being over top of their bezel and a fake bezel to build your skimmer into.
Let's get into the electronics.
We're going to buy any of the audio recording pens, or "spy" pens, that have a micro sd storage slot, or it can be on board storage if it's sufficient space. I personally haven't found much difference in the models, it's not super important what you go for in all honesty.
SpyPen
We're going to take the handle of the pen and unscrew the bottom portion. We're carefully disassembling the pen until we're looking at only the board. Here's a photo of that:
SpyPen Open
Let's take a look at that so we can see what we're working with.
SpyPen Laid Out
There's only 2 buttons on it -
off/on towards the top
Reset in the middle.
We also have 2 lights on board -
Yellow for charging/waiting
Blue for when it's recording
Our first step is going to replace that battery, you want this device to be able to function for days at a time (you're going to need to retreive the devices for collect the data for decoding later). Replacing the batter should be easy, positive to where the old positive was and the negative to where the old negative was. You can just look at the current battery before you disconnect it to see which one is which. If youre using multiple batteries that fit into the room you have in you bezel then make sure you tie them all together at once rather than chaining them or you're going to have your battery swell up on you at some point and malfunction. More likely sooner rather than later.
Now we're going to solder in our magnetic tape head that reads the card tracks to our microphone input. To do that we're going to need to extend the wires that will connect to the head to the board so that the head can reach the proper place it'll need to be to read the magnetic stripe of the card. Solder off the old wires that connect the microphone. Solder the new wires so they have some extra room, we can just tape down excess wire or shorten it later.
The next step is to place everything into your bezel . The only critical thing about placement is to know which way your head reads and to place it that correct way in the device where it lines up with where their stripe will slide through when inserting their card. This does take some testing and fine tuning to get right. You're going to have to adjust your first few I'm sure, it's not something you'll get without a little trial and error on the placements.
Once everything's all good and you can place it on the ATM's bezel and insert a test card and have it come back out properly without catching on your bezel you can take some double sided tape and place that on the inside of your bezel (it can cover any of the electronics except the tape head) to help to ensure it stays in place how we want it to.
Skimmer guts
This is the front of the finished project. Skimmer outside
Now, that's how we build a skimmer that sits in a fake bezel on the ATM cheaply that will record our track files in WAV or MP3 format.
Now, that's not very usable now is it?
That's why people used to offer decoding services back in the good old days. But, there's a really simple way you can do that yourself.
You can always use PowerGraph and the table of data I'll include here. A free demo for power graph can be found at
The demo functions fine to decode your data so you're not compelled to buy a full version whatsoever.
Using this table of data that software can properly decode your audio tracks to the proper clear text we need to re-write the cards and use them ourselves (or sell them).
Values:
b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 Symbol Value
0 0 0 0 1 -0 (0H) Digit
1 0 0 0 0 -1 (1H) "
0 1 0 0 0 -2 (2H) "
1 1 0 0 1 -3 (3H) "
0 0 1 0 0 -4 (4H) "
1 0 1 0 1 -5 (5H) "
0 1 1 0 1 -6 (6H) "
1 1 1 0 0 -7 (7H) "
0 0 0 1 0 -8 (8H) "
1 0 0 1 1 -9 (9H) "
0 1 0 1 1 -: (AH) Management
1 1 0 1 0 -; (BH) Begin of the sequence
0 0 1 1 1 -<(CH) Management
1 0 1 1 0 -= (DH) Field separator
0 1 1 1 0 -> (EH) Management
1 1 1 1 1 -? (FH) End of the sequence
I'll have an updated version of this article with specific recommendations as to what I like to use for each individual part and will include a total parts list at the top at some point in the future.
You should definitely check it out.
I constantly see discussion about people wanting skimmers, or information on how to build them. I thought I would come forward with the dinosaur model I've been using forever. First things first, I want you to know that these days some ATM manufacturers have started implementing a type of magnetic sensor in the casings to their card readers to detect if anything has been placed around it. If this is the case this type of skimmer wouldn't work, you would need something insertable.
I suppose you're wondering, "how in the actual fuck am I supposed to know which ATM's do or don't have a security feature like that?"
So I have a test for that, and boy did I nail it (pun intended).
You're going to take any steel nail (or any other piece of magnetic metal) and place it on top of card slot on the ATM. Tape it in place and move to a place where you can safely watch the ATM parking lot without being suspicious. Wait between 30 minutes and 1 hour. If nobody shows up to check on a triggered alarm you're safe to remove that nail or piece of metal and you'll be safe to place this device on that ATM. If that security feature is in place you won't have to worry about removing the nail, there's going to be some type of local authorities there to investigate and ensure a skimming device hasn't been placed onto the ATM. You more than likely won't even raise suspicion, a patrol officer would be going out to look at it after being contacted by the ATM manufacturer or whoever they hire to maintain that security system. These street officers are going to see a nail or some bullshit taped to an ATM and assume it was a kid doing something random or something they thought was funny. It's unlikely a regular officer would make the connection that it's to test the waters of the security features, and without there being anything found there it's unlikely they'll ever mention it to anyone after they leave that scene. If you set off more than one of those systems for the same company or where the same department responds to the report then they're more than likely going to make that connection and you should take extra care when working there or in surrounding areas as they've likely upped patrols in those areas due to multiple machines being found like that.
Anyway, let's assume the best case happened and nothing happened after an hour. Now we know that we can use this type of device there, so we're going to move forward with our build.
You're going to need a bezel that overlays on the existing card reader slot. These are different for different ATM models and can be 3d printed if you have a good quality printer and the proper filaments or you can find one online. These are actually fairly easy to get your hands on through legitimate clear-net sites. These are just pieces of plastic that matches how those ATM parts look and are just slightly larger to sit over-top of them properly and comfortable, so it's not illegal for a store to sell and it's not illegal for you to buy. But it'll definitely raise some questions if anyone actually knows what it is from looking at it without any context.
Let's assume you've also hurdled that task and you now have an ATM that didn't trigger an alarm from metal being over top of their bezel and a fake bezel to build your skimmer into.
Let's get into the electronics.
We're going to buy any of the audio recording pens, or "spy" pens, that have a micro sd storage slot, or it can be on board storage if it's sufficient space. I personally haven't found much difference in the models, it's not super important what you go for in all honesty.
SpyPen
We're going to take the handle of the pen and unscrew the bottom portion. We're carefully disassembling the pen until we're looking at only the board. Here's a photo of that:
SpyPen Open
Let's take a look at that so we can see what we're working with.
SpyPen Laid Out
There's only 2 buttons on it -
off/on towards the top
Reset in the middle.
We also have 2 lights on board -
Yellow for charging/waiting
Blue for when it's recording
Our first step is going to replace that battery, you want this device to be able to function for days at a time (you're going to need to retreive the devices for collect the data for decoding later). Replacing the batter should be easy, positive to where the old positive was and the negative to where the old negative was. You can just look at the current battery before you disconnect it to see which one is which. If youre using multiple batteries that fit into the room you have in you bezel then make sure you tie them all together at once rather than chaining them or you're going to have your battery swell up on you at some point and malfunction. More likely sooner rather than later.
Now we're going to solder in our magnetic tape head that reads the card tracks to our microphone input. To do that we're going to need to extend the wires that will connect to the head to the board so that the head can reach the proper place it'll need to be to read the magnetic stripe of the card. Solder off the old wires that connect the microphone. Solder the new wires so they have some extra room, we can just tape down excess wire or shorten it later.
The next step is to place everything into your bezel . The only critical thing about placement is to know which way your head reads and to place it that correct way in the device where it lines up with where their stripe will slide through when inserting their card. This does take some testing and fine tuning to get right. You're going to have to adjust your first few I'm sure, it's not something you'll get without a little trial and error on the placements.
Once everything's all good and you can place it on the ATM's bezel and insert a test card and have it come back out properly without catching on your bezel you can take some double sided tape and place that on the inside of your bezel (it can cover any of the electronics except the tape head) to help to ensure it stays in place how we want it to.
Skimmer guts
This is the front of the finished project. Skimmer outside
Now, that's how we build a skimmer that sits in a fake bezel on the ATM cheaply that will record our track files in WAV or MP3 format.
Now, that's not very usable now is it?
That's why people used to offer decoding services back in the good old days. But, there's a really simple way you can do that yourself.
You can always use PowerGraph and the table of data I'll include here. A free demo for power graph can be found at
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Log in or register now.
The demo functions fine to decode your data so you're not compelled to buy a full version whatsoever.
Using this table of data that software can properly decode your audio tracks to the proper clear text we need to re-write the cards and use them ourselves (or sell them).
Values:
b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 Symbol Value
0 0 0 0 1 -0 (0H) Digit
1 0 0 0 0 -1 (1H) "
0 1 0 0 0 -2 (2H) "
1 1 0 0 1 -3 (3H) "
0 0 1 0 0 -4 (4H) "
1 0 1 0 1 -5 (5H) "
0 1 1 0 1 -6 (6H) "
1 1 1 0 0 -7 (7H) "
0 0 0 1 0 -8 (8H) "
1 0 0 1 1 -9 (9H) "
0 1 0 1 1 -: (AH) Management
1 1 0 1 0 -; (BH) Begin of the sequence
0 0 1 1 1 -<(CH) Management
1 0 1 1 0 -= (DH) Field separator
0 1 1 1 0 -> (EH) Management
1 1 1 1 1 -? (FH) End of the sequence
I'll have an updated version of this article with specific recommendations as to what I like to use for each individual part and will include a total parts list at the top at some point in the future.