RIP-OFF ALERT: Several years ago, Clark alerted listeners to the dangers of ATM card skimming. To refresh your memory, skimming is when criminals put a small piece of hardware on an ATM where you insert your card.

The skimmer captures info from the magnetic strip on the back of your card. Crooks can then remove the skimmer, download the info and create duplicate copies of your card. There's also typically a camera hidden somewhere so the thieves can record you typing in your PIN. Once they have duplicate cards and your PIN, they employ a team of runners to empty out your account.

Now the Sun Sentinel reports that the skimming crime has escalated, especially with ATMs at gas stations. Thankfully, the article also reveals a technique you can use to avoid putting yourself in harm's way. Try shaking the area where your card goes in. If it has a skimmer, it will be obvious because they're designed to be installed and uninstalled quickly. If you suspect there may be a skimmer on the ATM, let the bank or gas station know.

Meanwhile, beware when using an ATM that's not from your bank or credit union. It can take weeks to dispute any issue with the ATM owner.

Clark has only paid an ATM charge once in 12 years, back in June 1996 in Moab, Utah -- and it still eats at him! He can practically remember the very day! But most of his fellow Americans don't care if they get ripped off with inflated fees for using an ATM as a non-customer.

The annual survey that BankRate.com does of ATM charges shows that they're up another 13% -- to just under $3.50 per transaction. But the big banks can charge up to $5 for non-customers! The highest Clark has ever seen was $10 in a Las Vegas casino!

The only reason the banks can raise their ATM fees every year is because we let them by continuing to use non-affiliated ATMs. There are so many ways to get cash back for free. You can do so by using your debit card at the supermarket or the drug store, or by using an affiliated ATM in your bank or credit union's network. Meanwhile, USAA and some of the online banks will reimburse any fees incurred by customers when using others' ATMs.

So if you've been wasting money like this, stop doing it. Just use the easy alternatives Clark has suggested above.

There's been a widespread security breach at some 5,700 Citibank ATMs. Heed this special warning if you've used a Citibank ATM (including those found at 7-Eleven stores) at any point this year.

Criminals hacked into the bank's system and were remotely able to capture account numbers and PINs. They then made duplicate cards that were used to withdraw money from accounts for about 7 months.

The banking industry's longtime rule has been that the burden of proof was on you if your PIN was stolen. They believed their system was impenetrable and if something went wrong, well, you must have been at fault by not protecting your account or PIN. But the hacker community shares info about how to break into back-end systems on a variety of message boards.

The real problem is that our banks rely on 1960s ATM card technology. Over in Europe, they've long since switched to using smart chips in ATM cards. These smart chips defeat the ability of hackers to duplicate a card should they capture a number.

Washington D.C. has also been complicit in this backwards-looking policy. Federal regulators who are in cahoots with the banks have not followed through on requiring them to follow international banking security standards.

The takeaway for you is that you've got to thoroughly monitor your account and follow up on any discrepancies.

Meanwhile, the folks at Wired magazine originally broke the Citibank story. And Citibank, to its shame, is still being hush-hush about the number of people affected and the amount of money that's been stolen. Ukrainian immigrant Yuriy Rakushchynets and 2 others are the likely culprits of the crime.

Our banking industry operates at below-Third World standards when it comes to data safety. It's well past time for our government to mandate that the banks adhere to recognized world standards in the field. Clark also thinks banks should be required to provide full disclosure to the media and the American people when breaches like this one occur.

More than a month ago, Clark told you about the plight of a young man in mainland China who repeatedly took advantage of an ATM glitch and pocketed $24K. He was arrested months later (on an unrelated charge) and sentenced to life in prison when his crime was discovered. Public outrage against the harsh sentence prompted a second trial -- which almost never happens in communist China -- and the sentence was reduced to 5 years.

When Chinese citizens were polled after the initial sentencing, 93% of them said they would do the same thing as the young man at the ATM. That's how deeply alienated they feel from their system. Clark was curious about what you would do, so he put the question up in a recent poll. More than 80% of you said you'd stop the transaction and report it; 8% of you said you would pocket the money and then report the malfunction; and 12% of you said you'd milk the situation for all it was worth.

Then just days after Clark's initial report, a New Yorker went to a Chase ATM and wanted $110, but got $220 instead -- while the ATM only debited $110. According to a news report, that person went into the bank and reported the malfunction. But the bank never sought to reclaim the extra money. It's so ironic that the person was honest, but wasn't thanked and no action was taken. Meanwhile, Clark finds it interesting that there's a gulf between the results of his own polling and the reality of just 1 single person actually saying something about the glitch in New York.

Here's a question of morals and ethics for you: What would you do if your ATM kept giving you unlimited cash without deducting your account? That's the question posed this week in Clark's poll. A young man in China named Xu Ting faced this very same dilemma. His response was to make withdrawals at 171 ATMs and pocket $24K in cash. He received a life prison sentence for his crime after being stopped by police for a routine ID check. This story, reported in The Los Angeles Times, really highlights China's unjust judicial system more than anything else. After uproar among the people of China, Ting is being given a second show trial and will be re-sentenced. Corrupt Chinese officials, meanwhile, make out like bandits. While our country isn't perfect, we do have a tradition of sending our big wigs to jail when they mess up. Just think of Worldcom's Bernie Ebbers, some of the Enron people or Leona Helmsley. But how about you -- what would you do if faced with Ting's ethical dilemma? Remember, you can be honest because online polls are anonymous!

Clark is usually no friend of Bank of America. Need we remind you of the Matthew Shinnick debacle -- when BoA had the San Francisco man imprisoned on false check fraud charges and then didn't pay his legal fees or even apologize? But today Clark refuses to join the chorus of boos rising across the country as people take BoA to task for their new rip-off ATM fees. The mega-bank is now charging non-customers who use one of their ATMs a fee of three dollars. Clark thinks that if BoA wants to rip you off, it is their right; that's how the free market functions. If they want to raise the charge to five or 10 bucks, Clark thinks that's fine too. The last time he paid an ATM fee was on June 16, 1996, in Moab, Utah. The merchants in that town didn't take credit cards, so Clark went to each bank in the area and found the cheapest ATM fee -- one dollar. He jokes that he then had to skip a meal to make up for paying the fee!

Clark remembers the days when ATMs first came out and surcharges were 25 cents. Now he hears they're as much as five dollars in casinos. But you can easily avoid rip-off charges if you only use ATMs that belong to your bank or credit union. Publix has its own ATMs that many people use for free because the regional supermarket chain has partnered with hundreds of financial institutions. So nobody on Capitol Hill should be talking about imposing price controls on ATM charges, according to Clark. If you choose to use an unauthorized cash machine, you must pay the price. Finally, Clark thinks the timing of BoA's new move is very interesting. Banks tend to raise their fees twice a year -- in August and December. They do this just in time for summer vacation and the holidays. Those are the two times of year when people usually don't watch their accounts too closely. So this latest BoA surcharge is a just little August surprise from the company!

Some bank accounts charge you a fee just to check your account. A call years ago spoke of getting hit with an overdraft fee, even though they knew they had a good balance; was this a clerical error? No, it's a new strategy in banking that tricks people into overdrafting their accounts so that the bank can charge them. Banks used to reject transactions that they knew would cause an overdraft. Not anymore. Many banks now purposely approve transactions that they know will overdraw your account. According to Congressional hearings, banks made $17.5 billion dollars due to this! Even worse, many banks use software programs to see what will cause the most bounced checks, or give you false balance reports at ATMs so that you you'll overdraw! Clark thinks a bank should at the very least inform you that they're going to try to rip you off by approving transactions that will cause overdraft fees. You now need to take additional steps to monitor your account as closely as possible to avoid getting ripped off.

Clark talked with a caller recently about the ATM skimmers all over the world that are ripping you off. The man was in Italy on vacation when someone in France found out his card number and secret code from a skimmer and emptied out his checking account. It’s going on every minute and there is a huge heist going on now that banks are apparently trying to keep secret, according to the Orlando Sentinel. A computer hack that happened a month ago is responsible for compromising millions of customer accounts and secret codes. Instead of telling customers the truth about what has happened, banks are just sending people new cards, the paper reports. So, if you get a new card the mail all of a sudden without ordering one, the debit fraud debacle could by why. It means you must monitor your accounts very closely. If you bank online, watch your balances very carefully. It’s happened to multiple banks around the country, so be aware.

In spite of Clark’s warnings about “fake Visa or MasterCards” – also known as debit cards – members of his staff carry the cards and have for awhile. Kim, one of Clark’s producers, has never had a problem – until this weekend. Someone got a hold of her card and her PIN this weekend by using a skimmer and possibly a video camera or binoculars. Now she’s trying to figure out how it happened. She found out when she tried to use the card and it was rejected. If you have one of these cards, make sure you shield your hand when you’re entering your PIN. If a crook gets a hold of it, your information is usually sold on the Internet and funds are deducted all over the world. She hopes to have her money back in her account tomorrow morning, but she’s not going to count on it until it’s there. We’ll let you know what happens.

ATM fees are up to an all-time high right now, according to Bankrate.com. If you use an institution other than your own, you get hit with a double fee- first from the bank you’re using and also from your own bank. The average fee right now is $2.75. We as consumers are wasting $4 billion on ATM fees. Just a few years ago it was $2 billion. We have power here to choose if we want to spend this money. For instance, with a credit union account, you can usually use another bank’s ATM for free. Credit unions will actually pay you back if you use another bank’s machine and are charged a fee. People use other machines and pay the extra cash without even thinking about it. It’s $2.75, which doesn’t seem like a lot. But that is almost the cost of a lunch. When ATMs first came onto the scene in the 70s, you got freebies for using them. Now, instead of bribing us, they’re billing us. Get smart and use a credit union or use only your own bank’s ATM machines.

Clark wants to warn you about an ATM scam that could wipe out your bank accounts without you ever knowing. About a year ago, Clark issued a warning about an ATM scam that involves your card getting stuck in the machine. What happens is people put their card into the slot, enter their secret code and nothing happens. When they try to cancel the transaction, the card doesn’t come back out and people think it’s just stuck. In truth, there is a criminal across the street who has put a “sleeve” in the machine and has been watching as you enter you code. When you leave, that person retrieves your card and empties your account. If you used a Visa or MasterCard debit card, it could mean an even more expensive shopping spree. Banks don’t want to help because they assume that you gave someone your secret code and are trying to scam them. But the truth is that it is the bank’s problem. Many people don’t know that they have to report this as a crime right away. If it’s the weekend, you can’t report it until Monday, and that can be very detrimental. This crime is rapidly spreading, so you need to know what to do. If you suspect your card has been swiped, call the bank immediately on the hotline number. Don’t give the criminals a chance to wipe your bank account. Also, watch to see if someone stops at the ATM right after you and get his or her tag number. Just don’t attempt to confront him or her; it’s too dangerous. Try to only use ATM’s at your own financial institution because that will lessen the chaos of trying to deal with another institution if this happens to you.

Clark often reports on ripoffs going on in the consumer world. Today, he has a Top 10 list of scams, schemes and scandals, provided by the state regulators who watch over financial analysts and brokers. Drum roll please…. The No. 10 scam is variable annuities. If you don’t know what these are and you don’t have any, good. If you do, you don’t want to put any more money into these plans. They have massive commissions and are absolutely horrible for your wallet. No. 9 are scandalous mutual fund companies. No. 8 is Internet fraud. No. 7 are “high yield investment” scams. Some that Clark has received calls on involve exotic overseas investments that are a complete scam. Insurance agents who sell people bogus investments come in at No. 6. Most insurance agents are honest, but a number of them have been involved in very scandalous affairs. No. 5 are church ripoffs. Just because someone seems religious does not mean that person is on the up and up. At No. 4, phony brokers. Just because someone says something is going to be a great investment doesn’t mean it will. Promissory notes – or fake CDs – are No. 3. These are promises that someone will pay you later if you give them money. But there is no guarantee, and it’s not safe. No. 2 is any kind of scam against seniors. If you’re not involved in your parents’ finances, be nosy! And, the No. 1 scam in the U.S. involving your wallet are Ponzi schemes. These are schemes where criminals recruit people to pay back other people who have invested, and then you have to recruit someone once you’re in. Eventually, these collapse because there are no more people willing to “invest.” There a lots of people who will sell you sizzle, but that’s all it is.