European card issuers continue to report more ATM-related fraud losses associated with their cards’ use in the United States than in any other country, a new report reveals.
“The trend of losses due to skimming occurring outside of EMV liability-shift areas, or in countries where the ATM EMV rollout has not been completed, continues,” Lachlan Gunn, director and coordinator for the European ATM Security Team Ltd., wrote in the organization’s Nov. 15 fraud-update report.
Issuers in Europe also are seeing fraud losses rising in the Dominican Republic, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru, according to the report.
The report did not reveal how many fraud incidents occurred in each country, but European issuers’ combined fraud losses from card use outside the region this year totaled 98 million euros (US$133 million) as of June 30, down 22% from 125 million euros during the same six-month period in 2010.
Criminal use of counterfeit EMV cards to withdraw cash from ATMs in countries that are not EMV compliant is prompting some European card issuers to implement additional security measures, such as regional card blocking, the report says. Crooks initiate the fraudulent transactions with cards featuring a magnetic stripe.
ATM card skimming continues to be an issue despite decreases in incidents in the 22 European countries that reported crime statistics to the organization, according to the report.
The report cites various skimming trends but does not name the countries where they occurred.
Six countries, two of which are major ATM deployers, reported a decrease in skimming, and two others reported an increase in skimming incidents when compared with the previous reporting period.
Four countries reported skimming attacks at bank lobby door readers.
One country reported a new skimming approach in which criminals cut a hole into the ATM’s façade and cover it with stickers. The organization believes fraudsters place illegal devices behind the façade and attach them directly to the card reader or the machine’s main processing computer board.
Five countries reported skimming attacks on unattended payment terminals at petrol stations. Two countries experienced a significant rise in such attacks, while the number has declined in another country because of the introduction of anti-skimming devices.
One country reported increased attacks on parking ticket machines. The attacks happened at sidewalk machines that accept PIN-based transactions and those deployed in parking garages and lots.
The organization estimates there were 403,369 ATMs deployed in Europe as of June 30, up 1.3% from 398,040 a year earlier.
