Internal card reader skimmer disrupter
A dual antiphase read-head arranged card reader is provided. The card reader includes a first read-head arrangement and a second read-head arrangement. Electromagnetic noise is applied to both the first and second arrangements. Waves associated with the electromagnetic noise on the second arrangement is transformed and applied to the first arrangement canceling the noise on a first read head of the first arrangement. The first read head reads magnetically encoded information on a magnetic strip of a card inserted into a card slot of the card reader free of noise. However, the noise remains present such that any skimmer read head of a skimmer inserted into the card slot is unable to read the magnetically encoded information off the magnetic strip of the card.
1 . A method, comprising:
applying electromagnetic noise on read heads of a card reader;
canceling the electromagnetic noise on a first read head of the card reader; and
reading magnetic encoded information from a card using the first read head while the electromagnetic noise remains present on other read heads;
wherein the first read head is aligned to read a specific track of a card's magnetic strip.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein canceling the electromagnetic noise comprises transforming electromagnetic waves associated with the noise on a second read head and applying the transformed waves to the first read head.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first read head is part of a first read-head arrangement and a second read head is part of a second read-head arrangement, the first and second read-head arrangements being offset within the card reader.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the first read-head arrangement is elevated above the second read-head arrangement.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the electromagnetic noise comprises receiving the noise from a source external to the card reader.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the card reader is a motorized card reader.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising preventing a skimmer from reading the magnetic encoded information due to a presence of the electromagnetic noise.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein canceling the electromagnetic noise comprises using an antiphase connection between the first read head and another read head.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating the electromagnetic noise using a disruptive circuit within the card reader.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first read head and at least one other read head are arranged in a dual antiphase configuration within the card reader.
11 . A method, comprising:
providing a card reader with multiple read-head portions;
applying electromagnetic noise to the read-head portions;
canceling the electromagnetic noise on a first read-head portion; and
reading magnetic encoded information from a card using the first read-head portion while the electromagnetic noise remains on other read-head portions;
wherein the electromagnetic noise is generated by a component of the card reader or an external source.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the first read-head portion is aligned to read a specific track of a card's magnetic strip.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein one read-head portion is elevated above another read-head portion.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the card reader is integrated with a terminal selected from the group consisting of:
an automated teller machine (ATM), a self-service terminal (SST), a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, and a kiosk.
15 . A method comprising:
providing a card reader with multiple read-head portions;
applying electromagnetic noise to the read-head portions;
canceling the electromagnetic noise on a first read-head portion;
reading magnetic encoded information from a card using the first read-head portion while the electromagnetic noise remains on other read-head portions; and
preventing unauthorized reading of the magnetic encoded information due to a presence of the electromagnetic noise on the other read-head portions.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein canceling the electromagnetic noise on the first read-head portion comprises using an antiphase connection between the first read-head portion and another read-head portion.