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The device found a Sorrento He risks opening a new season of theft. This time more sophisticated than classic bag. The Pi Pirate has been defined. It is a white box, identical to those used by merchants to do pay with cards. It usually works thanks to aapp downloaded on the smartphone of the owner.
The feature that makes it pirate, at least according to the carabinieri, concerns the authorization of payment. This POS would be able to start Payments automatically From the cards within its reach, including transactions that would need a PIN code to be approved. The carabinieri speak of Pickpoccking 2.0.
The POS Pirate was found during the search of a 36 -year -old womanstopped by the carabinieri because they have suspected of stolen 100 euros from the coffers of a shopor. From the first investigations it seems that the woman has used a similar device for a theft from 9,000 euros In Rome, against a tourist.
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What a modified POS can do
We clarify it immediately. The main point to be understood in this story is the nature of the modification. If the pi pirate is a sophisticated device, modified by an expert hand, or if it is a simpler modificationperhaps precisely through anon -official app downloaded on the smartphone.
The case is in fact quite unusual. Looking for news on the thefts where the POS was used, also in other countries, we only find A series of cases in Torontoin Canada. The CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, spoke about it. In this case, however, the thefts concern the merchants: a band of thieves to find a way for get fake reimbursements accredit from the terminals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqx8qxyllau
The pi pirate shown by the carabinieri, on the other hand, would be able to do much more. As we read, it would be enough to approach it to cards, also contained in a pocket, to trigger the payment without the victim noticing what is happening. It is not clear whether you have to set the figure you want to drain or if the pirate pose empties everything automatically.
How to protect yourself from Pirate
If confirmed, the case of the post discovered by the carabinieri in Sorrento it would be exceptional. We are not in front of an epidemic of thefts with the Pos. If you want to protect your cards, a good suggestion to follow could be that of Move the cards to your smartphone. There are different solutions: the two main ones are Google Wallet For Android devices and the IOS wallet If instead you have an iPhone.
At the end October 2024 This theme was addressed by Jacopo Jannonean computer engineer author of the Exploring and Exploiting An Android “Smart Pos” Payment Terminal Research. According to his analyzes, reported by Corriere della Sera, paying with the smartphone is safer than the physical card: “The data that the phone transmits to the POS are not those of the” physical “card. So even if the POS was hackedthe stolen data could not be used. Also, when you pay with the phone, the card Pin is not requested, which therefore cannot be intercepted “.
