system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do people make/steal money using credit card skimmers?

I mean walk me through it because clearly I am missing something here.
gpt
A skimmer is a device that can read the information off your credit card without you noticing. The information can be used to create a clone of your card that can be used to buy items. For example someone could have a skimmer on a payment terminal. You could use the terminal and the skimmer stores your credit card information internally. Later on the criminals can return to retreive their skimmer and read your credit card information. They can then make a replica of your credit card and go to another store and buy something. Your bank will process the payment as it thinks you made the purchase. Nobody will notice until you check your credit card statement and makes the bank aware of this. By that time it can be very hard to track down the criminals.