US Tops ATM Card Skimming Report

A new report from the European ATM Security Team (EAST) has provided updates about global fraud rates when it comes to ATM card skimming.

And what that report proved is probably what those connected to the U.S. payments industry already know: ATM skimming is higher in places that don’t have the full card market migrated to EMV. That’s why, when looking at 44 countries outside the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), the top three locations where card losses were the highest from skimming were the U.S., Indonesia and the Philippines.

The report was based on updates from data from representatives of 19 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area and four non-SEPA countries at a meeting held in Stockholm last month.

What the results also revealed is that card skimming at ATMs occurred in 20 countries, with an increase, in most cases, because of one device known as the Throat Inlay Skimming Device (a device placed inside the card reader to skim the data).

Other data points provided in the report include:

• “Skimming attacks on other terminal types were reported by 12 countries, and seven countries reported such attacks on unattended payment terminals (UPTs) at petrol stations.”
• “Fifteen countries reported cash-trapping attacks, and five countries reported transaction reversal fraud (TRF) incidents.”
• “ATM malware and logical security attacks were reported by three countries — two of them reported the successful usage of ‘black-box’ devices to allow the unauthorized dispensing of cash.”
• “Ram raids and ATM burglary were reported by 10 countries, and 10 countries also reported explosive gas attacks, one of them for the first time.”