The most common criminal practice is via a phony-front ATM. The fraudster places a fake keypad directly over the legitimate ATM keypad, copying the cardholder’s PIN. Criminals additionally place a phony ATM card reader over the card insert slot to capture the card’s magnetic-stripe data.
Cardholders then unknowingly use the phony-front ATM to conduct a cash transaction, swiping the card and entering their PIN. The information is then sent to a remote computer and either an "unable to dispense cash" message appears, or "the cash is dispensed and the actual transaction is completed", depending on the type of phony ATM card reader used.