Merchant Newsletter - February  24, 2007

High Resolution Blackberry Supported!



Then 8700 series with its high resolution screen is now supported!

 
Beware of ATM SCAMS!! Many thieves are using external devices to confiscate your card. In this scam, a blocking device (which can be as simple as some film glued to trap ATM cards), is inserted into the card slot of the ATM machine. They call this the "Lebanese Loop" You place your card into the machine and enter your PIN. All the while, someone nearby may be watching you enter your PIN number.  Once your ATM card is trapped, a "Nice man"  will show up and offer advice on how to get your card back. They may suggest that you enter your PIN number a couple of times. They might also offer to hold the cancel button while you enter your PIN. What they're really doing is memorizing your PIN number. 

Skimmers are devices added to ATM machines to capture your card's information, including your account number, balance, and PIN number. These devices, often mounted alongside a machine and labeled 'card cleaners,' are difficult to notice unless you're looking for them. You may also find card skimmers mounted beside the normal ATM card slot with a sign that says, "slide card here first." Sometimes they are even mounted right on top of where you would normally enter your card.

Another way to glean your ATM PIN number is for thieves to mount a wireless video camera inside the ATM area. It can look as harmless as a brochure holder. Once the scammers have your number, magnetic strips are easy to make and thieves are able to easily reproduce ATM cards.  In addition to using cameras to collect PIN numbers, thieves have designed fake PIN pads that they place on top of the original ATM PIN pad. Unfortunately, with fake PIN pads, your ATM transaction will proceed normally and you won't know a scammer has stolen anything until it's too late.

Thieves have also taken to occasionally putting up fake ATM machines in and around shopping centers and other public locations. Upon placing your card into the card reader, these machines collect your ATM PIN and account information. They do not dispense cash. Rather, a screen comes up that says that the machine is out of money or out of order.

Similar to the Lebanese Loop where a thin sleeve traps your card, this time your cash is trapped by a sleeve or device slipped inside the cash dispenser. Your transaction will operate normally, but you won't receive the cash you've withdrawn.  Chances are you'll either walk or drive away assuming the machine is out of order or you'll go inside the bank and report the incident. Either way, you have left the machine and the thieves can walk up, remove the device, and your cash.

We know how easy it is for thieves to replicate ATM cards. All they need is a magnetic strip and a plastic card. Armed with an ATM card, all a would-be thief needs is a PIN number. Some email phishing scams have been designed to find out just that. Representing your bank, a scammer can send you an email with a notice on it saying something about incomplete account information or that you need to update your account information. You click on the link and follow the directions but you're not at your bank, you're at a site designed to look like your bank by thieves. They collect your information and are free to replicate your ATM card or simply withdraw your money from your account via online banking.



Before we begin, we apologize for missing the last 6 issues of this newsletter. The author was pretty ill, and needed a break.  Anyway, we are back with weekly information to help our merchants fight fraud, learn about new technology, and use our products more effectively.

Our headline story:  The high resolution 8700 series Blackberry is now fully supported! Each of the Blackberry product families are just a little bit different, so we need a special version of Pocket Verifier Professional for each one.

Like all Blackberries, they use our Pocket Spectrum Plus card reader and printer for wireless bluetooth connectivity to the card reader and printer.

We are STILL getting a lot of merchants who are having problems with charging Pocket Merchants in their vehicles.  

It seems that many 110 volt vehicle inverters put out enough "hash" to confuse the "brain" or CPU inside the printers charging system. 

 

Many of these vehicle systems are "Square wave" inverters, which put out 110 volts, at 60 cycles per second (known as "Hertz" instead of Cycles since the 1970's) in a pure "on/off" or square wave instead of the sinusoidal or "sine" wave put out by the power companies..  

If you are having this problem, you can either charge your Pocket Merchant at home in the evenings, or you can get a Pocket Merchant Vehicle Charger.  If not, it is still a good thing to know if any other devices misbehave when used with a vehicle's 110 volt inverter.  Also, there are companies that make "Sine Wave" inverters if you have the need. Another note: remember these inverters are relatively low power, and they cannot operate items like heaters, blow dryers, etc.




Remembering that PDA phones are phones, we have to realize that the wireless radios inside (either CDMA or GSM/GPRS) are optimized for the best reception when being used as a phone.

When we use them as a PDA, there is a tendency to operate them with the unit laying on it's back on a desktop or other surface.  Due in part, to a property of the carrier's signal called polarization, the unit will get it's best reception when the antenna is pointed up and down:



When the unit is laying on it's back, the antenna is 90 degrees out of phase with the transmitted signal, and the connection is at it's worst for that particular location!  Height helps as well, holding the unit at head level can give you a much better signal than at waist level.  This helps by reducing the interference, absorption and clutter caused by furniture, file cabinets, and people.

Pocket Verifier Professional only sends or receives data when the "Activate", "Charge" or "Void/Credit" buttons are pressed, so you can use the unit on it's back (or any position), simply pointing it vertically when you actually activate or charge a credit card!  Easy!  In problem areas, some merchants actually hold the unit vertically, and as high as they can.  This is known as the "Statue of Liberty Authorization" and has saved merchants dozens of sales over the years.


New Mexico is hoping to keep drunks off the road by lecturing them at the last place they usually stop before getting behind the wheel: the urinal.  When a man steps up, the motion-sensitive plastic device says, in a woman's voice that is flirty, then stern: "Hey, big guy. Having a few drinks? Think you had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home." The recorded message ends: "Remember, your future is in your hand."

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