Detecting a skimmer via a vibration sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12073693-B2
Application number	US-202318120825-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2023
Priority date	Jul 22, 2020
Publication date	Aug 27, 2024
Grant date	Aug 27, 2024

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, method, and apparatus for detecting a skimmer via a vibration sensor on a transaction card. The method includes receiving, at a server, from a user equipment, vibration information recorded by a transaction card in response to an execution of a transaction at a point-of-service (POS) terminal of a plurality of POS terminals using the transaction card. The vibration information may be recorded by a microphone or an accelerometer on the transaction card while the transaction card is swiped through the POS terminal or inserted into or removed from the POS terminal. The method includes determining, at the server, a state of the POS terminal based on the received vibration information and in response to a determination of the state of the POS being compromised, sending to one or more stakeholders of the transaction a warning message containing the POS terminal information including the POS terminal's state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a server, from a transaction card via a user equipment (UE) and via a communication link between the transaction card and the UE, vibration information recorded by the transaction card in response to an execution of a transaction at a point-of-service (POS) terminal of a plurality of POS terminals using the transaction card, the vibration information caused by friction between the transaction card and the POS terminal as the transaction card interacts with the POS terminal;
determining, at the server, a state of the POS terminal based on the vibration information, the state of the POS terminal comprising whether a skimmer is detected; and
in response to determination of the state of the POS terminal as being compromised, sending to one or more stakeholders of the transaction a warning message containing the state of the POS terminal and POS terminal information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vibration information is recorded as sound by a microphone on the transaction card, wherein the state of the POS terminal is determined based on at least one of a duration of the sound, whether the sound comprises two separate sounds, or a frequency of the sound.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vibration information is recorded by an accelerometer on the transaction card while the transaction card is swiped through the POS terminal or inserted into or removed from the POS terminal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vibration information is received from the transaction card via a communication link between the transaction card and UE.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication link is established using a radio frequency communication protocol comprising one of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Near Field Communication (NFC).

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing, at a database of the server, the received vibration information and associated POS terminal information for comparison of the received vibration information with a plurality of vibration information samples or training a machine learning algorithm,
wherein the associated POS terminal information comprises a location of the POS terminal.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the state of the POS terminal further comprises:
comparing the vibration information with at least one vibration information sample corresponding to at least one compromised POS terminal; and
based on the comparison matching the vibration information to a vibration information sample of the at least one vibration information sample corresponding to at least one compromised POS terminal, determining the state of the POS terminal as being compromised.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the state of the POS terminal further comprises:
determining a location of the POS terminal based on a location of the UE or the transaction card;
comparing the vibration information with a plurality of vibration information samples corresponding to at least one POS terminal at the location of the UE or the transaction card over a configurable time period;
based on the comparison, determining whether a vibration pattern in response to the execution of the transaction at the POS terminal using the transaction card is changed; and
in response to the determination that the vibration pattern is changed, determining the state of the POS terminal as being compromised.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the state of the POS terminal further comprises:
determining a location of the POS terminal based on a location of the UE or the transaction card;
transferring, to the UE, at least one vibration information sample of a plurality of vibration information samples corresponding at least one POS terminal at the location of the UE or the transaction card over a configurable time period; and
receiving, from the UE, an identification of the state of the POS terminal as being compromised based on comparison of the vibration information not matching with the at least one vibration information sample transferred to the UE.

10. A system, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, configured to perform operations stored in the memory, the operations comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment (UE), vibration information recorded by a transaction card in response to an execution of a transaction at a point-of-service (POS) terminal of a plurality of POS terminals using the transaction card and transmitted by the transaction card to the UE over a communication link, the vibration information caused by friction between the transaction card and the POS terminal as the transaction card interacts with the POS terminal;
determining a state of the POS terminal based on the vibration information, the state of the POS terminal comprising whether a skimmer is detected; and
in response to determination of the state of the POS terminal as being compromised, sending to one or more stakeholders of the transaction a warning message containing the state of the POS terminal and POS terminal information.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the vibration information is recorded by a microphone or an accelerometer on the transaction card while the transaction card is swiped through the POS terminal or inserted into or removed from the POS terminal.

12. The system of claim 10 ,
wherein the communication link is established using a radio frequency communication protocol comprising one of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Near Field Communication (NFC).

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
storing the received vibration information and associated POS terminal information into a database in the memory for comparison of the received vibration information with a plurality of vibration information samples or training a machine learning algorithm,
wherein the associated POS terminal information comprises a location of the POS terminal.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the state of the POS terminal by:
comparing the vibration information with at least one vibration information samples corresponding to at least one compromised POS terminal; and
based on the comparison matching the vibration information to a vibration information sample of the at least one vibration information sample corresponding to at least one compromised POS terminal, determining the state of the POS terminal as being compromised.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the state of the POS terminal by:
determining a location of the POS terminal based on a location of the UE or the transaction card;
comparing the vibration information with a plurality of vibration information samples corresponding to at least one POS terminal at the location of the UE or the transaction card over a configurable time period;
based on the comparison, determining whether a vibration pattern made in response to the execution of the transaction at the POS terminal using the transaction card is changed; and
in response to the determination that the vibration pattern made in response to the execution of the transaction at the POS terminal is changed, determining the state of the POS terminal being as compromised.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the state of the POS terminal by:
determining a location of the POS terminal based on a location of the UE or the transaction card;
transferring, to the UE, at least one vibration information sampl

Assignees

• Capital One Services Llc

Inventors

• Johnson Molly
• Vukich Adam
• ZARAKAS James

Classifications

• G06Q20/4016

  involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing · CPC title

• G06Q20/206

  comprising security or operator identification provisions, e.g. password entry · CPC title

• G06Q20/204

  comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit · CPC title

• G06Q20/341

  Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip · CPC title

• G06Q20/401

  Transaction verification · CPC title