Don't Get Skimmed!

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- You use your credit card to buy a meal, fill up your tank or withdraw money from your bank. But some people are learning that all that convenience comes with a cost.

Northwest DC resident Dan Amin knows.

"I didn't know there was any problem until I go to use the card one day and I was declined, " Amin says.

Amin was traveling abroad when bandits struck.

"It's almost like an invasion of privacy."

Luckily, Amin's credit card company spotted some out of the ordinary charges. They acted fast and tossed out the $2,000 charges attached to Amin's name.

Like Amin, most of us have no idea that we're actually handing over our accounts to crooks.

Security expert Tom Patterson talks to Living Smart about card skimmers.

They are $20 on eBay. They are easy to get and easy to use. And many people are using them to steal your money.

With a simple swipe on a device so small, someone could do it without you even noticing, a scammer can squander your numbers away. Your magnetic strip is powerful.

But, Magtek has devised some new technology that takes a magnetic fingerprint of your credit card and prevents thieves from making a copy.

Patterson believes consumers can't stop skimmers. So, the financial community has to step in and do the work.

The information comes too late for Dan Amin, though he says now he's much more aware.

And, Patterson hopes with the new technology no one else will have to go through Amin's experience. Patterson believes the Magtek device can slow down this $4 billion dollar global problem and completely swipe it out in two years.

Watch our Living Smart story on Nine News Now at 5 to see how this technology could stop thieves in their tracks.