Bulgarian Prosecutors to focus on ATM skimming devices.....

An announcement was recently made in the Bulgarian press stating that some prosecutors are going to become specialists in dealing with ATM skimming devices. This is a good thing, as is the addition of new staff to the relevant department.

Bulgarian nationals are possibly the second largest ethnic group perpetrating skimming crime across Europe. While the people actually planting the devices are often arrested, they are the foot soldiers in an organised criminal operation.  Even when convicted, the most cash that can typically be recovered is what is actually found on them, in accounts related to them, or in a premises associated with them.  This can be a drop in the ocean when compared to fraudulent losses faced by the issuers of the cards that have been skimmed.  Also the sentences passed out for this form of crime vary across Europe, but can be very low.

The majority of the proceeds of skimming attacks are believed to often be repatriated to the criminal's country of origin.  As no crime has been committed in that country, the local police do not always have an incentive to push dealing with this form of crime up their agenda.  Nonetheless law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in countries where skimming attacks have taken place, need to deal with police and prosecutors in the criminal's country of origin to maximise recovery of stolen assets. That is why the announcement that some prosecutors in Bulgaria are going to become specialists in investigating crime related to ATM skimming devices is a good thing.................and another positive step taken to push tackling this form of organised financial crime higher up the agenda of the European Commission and the Member States.

For more information visit the website of the Sofia News Agency.

ATM cash withdrawal by mobile phone......?

According to stories put out by both Finextra and ATM Marketplace, First National Bank, which is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, this week announced the launch of a new service that allows customers to withdraw funds from ATMs using their mobile phones instead of their bank cards.

To withdraw cash from a First National Bank ATM, customers must log onto Cellphone Banking and select the banking option. They then must choose "withdraw cash" and the account from which they want to take the funds, such as checking or savings.

Once the customer completes this step, the bank sends an SMS text message with a temporary PIN. The customer then goes to the ATM and selects "cardless services" and "withdraw cash" from a First National Bank account, said Roshni Reddy of Cellphone Banking Solutions. 

From leader to laggard...the USA and the death of magnetic stripe card technology

For a long time now many of us in Europe have been aware that magnetic stripe card technology is becoming increasingly archaic in a world of smart cards (Chip and PIN or EMV) - yet it seems that those countries that have made a significant investment into this technology have had to grit their teeth and, for various reasons, continue to put up with magnetic stripes on their payment cards.  Belgium recently hit the headlines when the Belgian banks publicly stated that from 17 Jan 2011 Belgian Maestro cards can no longer be used outside of continental Europe.

There is a sense of frustration that just because the USA is not moving towards EMV, the world is being held back in this particular battle against fraudsters - magnetic stripes are relatively easily compromised and the data then used to create cloned or counterfeit cards. 

Call for increased security at remote site ATMs.........

In the early hours of 11th March 2011 an ATM was stolen from a shopping complex located in Antrim, Northern Ireland.  The criminals prised open the doors of the Parkhall Shopping complex and removed the machine just after 2:00 am.  The amount of money lost in the ATM has not been disclosed.

According to the Northern Ireland Independent Trade Association this is the first major robbery of this type in nearly two years.  Chief Executive Glyn Roberts stated "......I would call upon every retailer who has an ATM machine in their premises to urgently review their security in the light of this robbery."

You can read more on the story on UTV News.

Blog comment:  Following on from that comment, what could the options be?  Assuming that this ATM was a 'merchant fill' machine (i.e. the retailer directly replenishes the cash), the risk is with the retailer. 

Cash trapping increases at ATMs in Europe.........

The European ATM Security Team (EAST) has just published its first Fraud Update for 2011.  This is based on country crime updates given by representatives of 15 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and 2 non-SEPA countries at the 23rd EAST meeting held in Helsinki, Finland on 9th February 2011.

While ATM skimming incidents appear to be decreasing overall (although increases were reported by 7 countries), cash trapping incidents are on the rise across Europe with 8 countries reporting such attacks, compared with just 3 at the previous EAST meeting.  In some cases several ATMs were attacked simultaneously and the most common device used was the 'mouse trap'.

Fraud losses drop on UK cards, cheques and online banking

The UK Cards Association has just released figures that show that Card Fraud losses are at the lowest level since 2000 - a total of £365.4 million was lost in 2010, down from an all time high of £610 million in 2008.  The DCPCU (a special UK police unit funded by the Banks) reminds customers to keep on their guard......

£365.4 million is still an awful lot of money, but it is good to see the loss figure dropping.

With regard to losses at ATMs there was a 9% fall from £36.7 million reported in 2009, to £33.2 million in 2010.  This is a 46% fall from a highpoint of £62 million reported in 2006 as can be seen in the table below.

This table has been extracted from the press release put out by the UK Cards Association.  To get all the available information, including cheque and online banking fraud losses, you can see the press release on the website of the UK Cards Association.

ATM robbers arrested in Slovakia

Police in Slovakia have just reported that three members of an active gang have recently been arrested.  They were part of a gang that has allegedly attacked 30 ATMs across Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria. The gang members were armed and well equipped when carrying out the attacks - they used explosives and vehicles with chains to get the ATMs off their anchorages.

The men may face prison sentences of between 10 and 15 years.  The gang is alleged to have stolen €347,000, and an additonal €500,000 of collateral damage resulted from the attacks.

Physical attacks against ATMs (ram raids, pull out attacks, burglarly and robbery) appear to be an issue in parts of central and eastern Europe and, although they don't always grab the headlines the way that card skimming and other fraud does.

For the full story see an article in the Slovak Spectator.

Cash trapping at ATMs....1,738 attacks in 3 months

According to the BBC, City of London police have recently arrested two Romanian men at a flat in Harrow, London.  These guys were found in possession of six cash traps.  These simple devices are placed on an ATM to stop banknotes being dispensed to customers making genuine cash withdrawal transactions.  The money is trapped by the device until the criminals remove it.  Apparently 1,738 of these cash trapping incidents have been recorded in the past three months.

Also recovered at the flat were eight false machine fronts and eight pin hole cameras which capture PIN numbers.  Police Officers also found eight devices used to retain customers' cards and 150 phone top-up cards with PIN numbers written on them.

Seems like the flat was a dual purpose fraud factory, on the one hand making physical devices to capture banknotes and on the other making equipment to be used for Payment Card Fraud.

The full story can be found by following the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12655833

Skimming at railway ticket machines migrates?

OK this is not about ATMs, but it is related as counterfeits of skimmed EMV cards (with a magstripe) can still be used for cash withdrawals at ATMs that are not EMV compliant.  Dutch Railways had a big problem with card skimming at their self service ticket machines and decided to develop their own anti-skimming solution - the Secure Card Feeder.  I believe that since the introduction of this device at all their ticket machines in late 2009, there has been no card skimming at all at these machines.  Not a bad statistic.  If you want more information on the Secure Card Feeder visit http://www.csptec.nl/

On Tuesday 1st March a story broke in the UK press that this form of skimming has now been seen in the UK and that Police are advising people to be vigilant when buying railway tickets (underground and overground) in London.  For more on the story and for a publicly released image of one of the skimming devices see http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/East-London/Dagenham/RM8/News/Local-News/189040-Beware-when-buying-tickets-to-ride

Ever wondered how skimming at an ATM works?

A lot is heard about card skimming at ATMs.  Most people have a vague understanding of what happens, and how the criminals involved cash out.  But do you really understand what they do, both to get your card data and your PIN, and also how they are subsequently used to create counterfeit cards for illegal cash withdrawals and other financial transactions?

If you can bear the Bond theme musical introduction, there is a video  produced by 'The Real Hustle' that explains quite well how the whole skimming thing works - from initial preparation of a skimming device to the final usage of the cloned cards.  It finishes with two bits of advice. 

1)  If you see anything that has been fixed to or sticking out from the card reader of an ATM, do not use the machine.

2) Always shield your PIN


Blog view:  Its fine to be suspicious of anything fixed to or sticking our from an ATM card reader throat, but bear in mind that such devices can also be genuine anti-skimming devices.  Best to be suspicious though.  Shielding your PIN, however should be routine.  While there are other ways to get your PIN (such as PIN pad overlays), covering your PIN does protect it from most visual compromise.  For more cardholder security tips and to see seized criminal video footage of PIN compromise, visit the website of the European ATM Security Team (EAST).