/ world today news/ In the world, billions of dollars are stolen every year from draining bank cards through skimming. Authors of most frauds are Bulgarians.
This time, however, four young compatriots created the special SkimProt sticker, which stops similar types of “hits” that have become famous around the world. Skimming is a method of collecting data from a credit, debit or other bank card through an ATM or POS terminal. A fraudster has previously installed a scanner-type recording device – skimmer on the machine, which reads and copies the data from the magnetic strip of the bank card. A person cannot notice them, and when he puts his card in the “infected” device, the skimmer instantly records the bank card data. The information obtained is then applied to a new plastic and used to drain the funds of the unsuspecting victim.
There are different types of skimming, but they all rely on the magnetic strip of the bank card to download the information they need. Most cards have one and a chip. The chip is a much more modern and secure technology, while the magnetic stripe has been used since the 1950s.
Modern ATMs have readers for both so they can also use older bank cards. The much less secure magnetic stripe is usually used to make a transaction.
The weakness was noticed by Bulgarian Dimitar Chobanov in 2012 and he came up with the idea of creating SkimProt. Dimitar is a computer specialist and at the beginning he just wanted to create an advertising sticker in order to rebrand the card. Subsequently, it occurred to him that a sticker could be made to protect the magnetic tape against skimming, because the problem is serious, and there is almost no protection. Thus, Kamen Nestorov – IT specialist and engineer, Nikolay Tsaprev – bank security specialist, and Georgi Kanev, who deals with human resources, sales and market research, joined the project. They are the four people who created SkimProt. The main livelihood of the boys is different.
They are starting work on the project. Young people face a lot of difficulties, as this is a completely new product and there is a lack of “know-how” for it.
“There is nothing that we haven’t messed up a few times”, laughs Georgi and explains what exactly it is
SkimProt – the first such product worldwide and already has a patent issued.
The SkimProt sticker is composed of 4 layers.
The first is a protective coating protecting the sticker during everyday use of the bank card. The second layer is a magnetic stripe with a code written on it, telling ATMs to read the card chip and zeros instead of the magnetic stripe information. The skimming layer was created specifically for SkimProt. It completely hides the information from the card’s magnetic stripe. The last ingredient is a specialized glue that both sticks well to the card and can be easily peeled off when needed.
SkimProt contains service code only. The sticker tells the ATM to get the information it needs to complete the transaction from the card’s much more secure chip.
If the ATM has a skimmer, it will receive from SkimProt only a combination of many zeros and the service code on the sticker.
In this way, the cardholder makes a safe transaction. The sticker works with almost all ATMs at home and abroad. A problem can only arise if the ATM that a person uses is not equipped with an electronic chip reader.
Then the SkimProt simply peels off the card and the transaction uses the ordinary unsecured magnetic stripe. Due to its peel-off technology, SkimProt leaves no traces on the magnetic strip. After peeling off, re-sticking the sticker is not recommended.
SkimProt can also be used for cashless payments at POS terminals, for which the card must be inserted into the slot of the reader and the instructions on the screen must be followed.
“This is the first anti-skimming protection that protects the card before the money has left it,” says Georgi and adds that so far all protection methods have been targeted only after a theft has been committed.
After long tests, SkimProt is ready. The BGN 9.90 sticker is tested in New Zealand, at the Institute of Forensic Science and Special Techniques, in a special laboratory for bank cards at the Librarian University and “Borika-Bankservice”. Everywhere the feedback is positive.
SkimProt has both a Bulgarian and an international patent and is already available on the Bulgarian and global markets. In the package, in addition to the sticker, there is also a convenient model that helps to stick the sticker correctly. The team employs two people who are fully committed to SkimProt. One of them is Emil Tsolov, who is a marketing specialist.
The production of SkimProt is carried out in one of the largest Bulgarian printing houses.
When everything is ready, the guys start work on distributing SkimProt around the world and in our country. In Bulgaria, they tried to offer the banks to give the sticker together with the bank cards as protection. However, no one agreed. “Banks are a little more conservative and find their way to new technologies a little more difficult and slow,” says Emil.
However, the boys hope that soon the banks themselves will seek them for cooperation.
The team is proud that they are already the first Bulgarians who believed in SkimProt. Two guys are so impressed by the ingenious invention that they create a company that deals only with the distribution of the sticker. There are two chain stores in Bulgaria that already sell SkimProt. More than 1,500 units have been sold.
The guys have set about offering the product worldwide. They ran into an unexpected problem. Everywhere they offer SkimProt, they are pursued by the reputation of the Bulgarians as the most skilled skinning criminals.
People are skeptical at first and don’t believe us, the boys say.
“One foreigner even told us: ‘Guys, you are killing your business,'” Georgi laughs at the mention. However, he is pleased that after initial skepticism, everyone remains delighted with the results and the simplicity with which SkimProt works.
The goal for the guys is to reach distribution contracts with a dozen countries by the end of the year.
“We already have the first 5-6, now we are looking for the other 5-6”, says Georgi. He is very surprised and grateful for the help they received from Bulgaria’s commercial attachés abroad. “They help us a lot. They only asked us to translate our presentation and distributed it to local businesses”.
Youngsters want to deal with the improvement of SkimProt and are considering several more bank card protection products.
“We are not thinking of selling the company at this stage. It is still a start-up and we will be terribly sorry if we sell it now and next year its value will increase dramatically”, Georgi laughs.
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