Credit card skimming is still a real problem in North America as fraudsters add components to, or swap out debit terminals to steal the information on the credit or debit card and pin numbers to be able to create fraudulent transactions or withdraw cash on the unsuspecting victim.
The risk is not just the stolen funds which are often insured, but also the damage to the brand where the event takes place. As seen in the following YouTube video the trust in the retailer can erode significantly and / or significant spending needs to take place to help repair the damage to the brand that can far outweigh the theft itself. Protecting pin pads and debit terminals to ensure they cannot be stolen and more importantly that they cannot be modified or replaced with a modified debit terminal is a small price to pay when compared to the potential downside.