Manufacturers and Traders Bank Corp. has developed an antiskimming device, appropriately called the Blocker, for use on its ATMs and intends to make it available to other ATM deployers, the bank announced Nov. 3.
When placed in front of the ATM card reader, the stainless steel Blocker makes it more difficult for criminals to get away with attaching a card-skimming device to steal data from a card’s magnetic stripe, Blocker inventor Caroyln Criscitiello, M&T Bank vice president of alternative banking and retail services, tells PaymentsSource.
“If the criminal tried to attach a skimmer, which can look exactly like an ATM card reader, to the Blocker it would stick out so far it would be completely obvious it was not the real reader,” Criscitiello says.
Over a four-month period that started in July, Criscitiello developed the Blocker concept and worked with Bear Metal Works Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y. to manufacture the patent-pending product for installation on the ATMs, she says.
The Buffalo, N.Y.-based bank has attached the Blocker to its 400 Diebold Inc. ATMs, but the device fits on any brand of ATM, Criscitiello says.
“It’s a simple solution for all ATMs–just a coated steel plate that serves like a shield for the card reader,” Criscitiello adds. “People using an ATM probably won’t notice a difference because the Blocker never touches the card.”
Criscitiello would not disclose the cost to manufacture the Blocker or what the bank expects to charge others for the device.
However, the bank’s research determined the Blocker would cost 1% the expense of other advanced fraud-protection options available for ATMs, such as locks, cameras and software programs, she suggests.
M&T has nonprovisional application status on the Blocker, so it is able to use the device on its own ATMs while waiting for patent approval and wider distribution, Criscitiello adds.
“We would like to stop fraud in the industry by making the Blocker available to others,” she says. “This is brand new; there is nothing else like it on the market, which is why we were able to file for a patent.”
However, no single fraud-protection device will ever supply all of the answers for ATMs or other banking services, Julie Conroy McNelley, senior analyst and fraud expert with Boston-based Aite Group, tells PaymentsSource.
Blockers on ATMs will help stop some fraud, but banks always should use a layered fraud-prevention approach that use more than one defense mechanism, she says.
Aite cybercrime research suggests skimming ranks second behind malicious software as bank executives’ greatest fraud concern, McNelley says. Fraudulent attacks on debit cards are three times more severe than on credit cards in overall “common point-of-purchase” losses, indicating ATM skimming remains a serious problem, McNelley adds.
Many banks have an employee check ATMs at least once a day to ensure no skimming devices were placed on any of them, while others have installed a “jitter device” that shakes an inserted card enough to make it difficult for a skimmer to obtain the mag-stripe data, McNelley says.
Criminals placing skimmers typically target ATMs at bank branches on weekends, causing an estimated $50,000 in losses on average from a single weekend skimming attack, she adds.
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