What I discovered was that if I was able to “skim” or secretly scan someone’s credit card (and figure out their zip code), I could use that information to utilize their card. I did need to know the billing zip code, but if I had stolen it from an eCommerce site, I would have that detail regardless. I was able to physically copy one of my live credit cards, and then use it without a problem.
I swiped it in, and the system asked me for my zip code and I entered it promptly. The moment of truth: would my cloned credit card work at the gas pump? My car has a big tank, so any discount is helpful. Why the gas station? They still use the magnetic stripe swipe system – the pumps haven’t been upgraded to use the chip feature.Īgain, I used my cloned grocery rewards card to log in and get my loyalty rewards. I decided to go across the street to the gas station. But it didn’t like the fact that I was trying to swipe the card instead of using the chip reader.Īfter a couple of attempts, I paid with my real credit card and used the chip method. Then I tried to use the cloned credit card. I went back to the grocery store, and used my cloned loyalty card again. The blank cards don’t have chips so it is trickier to get it to work properly. I scanned one of my credit cards, and wrote the details onto a new blank white card. Now, on to step two: cloning one of my credit cards.
So I went to the self-checkout kiosk, and swiped the cloned card. (I didn’t want to have a checkout person see me swipe a blank white credit card and get suspicious.) I decided to use the self-checkout option and bought a tuna poke bowl for lunch. Would my new cloned King Soopers card work when I went to the store? It was time to find out. The information on the reader appeared identical.īut the proof was in testing. Then I scanned the new “cloned” grocery card and compared the information on it to the original. I first had the system read the information, and then copy it to the blank card. The blank card is a plain white card with a black magnetic strip on the back.
Next, I decided I would try to clone the data on my grocery store reward card and write it to a new blank card. That way if the system can’t read one track or it’s damaged, it can try the other track.
The information is encoded on two of the three tracks on the magnetic stripe. (I’ve changed the numbers so that nobody can clone my grocery card and start using my fuel rewards points!) My local grocery store card contains the store ID and my membership ID number: The magnetic stripe has a member number that is read by swiping the card and then verified through a database. My Costco card stripe has the membership number.
Mostly to see what was encoded on the magnetic stripe and it was fascinating.įor example, my driver license’s magnetic stripe contains my full name and address. I started to scan in everything in my wallet.
When it arrived, I plugged it into my computer and downloaded the MSRX software onto my computer. Out of experimental curiosity, I purchased a magnetic card reader/writer and 25 blank magnetic cards on eBay for about $70. (If they’re smart, they won’t use a stolen credit card to ship items to their house.)īut is it be possible to take credit card information and actually create a cloned physical credit card that works?