Article

ATM fraud more than doubles in Europe, security report says

A massive increase in ATM skimming is to blame for the increase, but efforts to curb fraud have kept overall cash losses at bay, one group says.

April 12, 2009

EDINBURGH, England — The European ATM Security Team says ATM fraud and attacks in Europe jumped 149 percent during 2008. The non-profit organization released its findings in a new report that analyzes ATM fraud trends throughout the world.

The report, which is published twice a year, provides an overview of European ATM crime, using statistics provided by 22 European states. The following countries, with an estimated total installed base of 357,241 ATMs, supplied full or partial information for this report: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. EAST says it expects in the future to collect similar information from all 27 European Union states, as well as from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

According to EAST, the uptick in ATM fraud is linked primarily to a 129 percent increase in ATM-skimming attacks. During 2008, a total of 10,302 skimming incidents in Europe were reported. But, despite the increase of incidents, fraud-related losses increased only 11 percent, indicative of the financial industry's counter-measures to fight fraud, such as enhanced fraud monitoring and detection capabilities.

"This increase in reported incidents is of great concern to EAST members," said EAST director Lachlan Gunn. "While the year-on-year fraud loss figures show an increase, the half-year figures show a declining trend for such losses over the past three six-month periods, with international losses due to card skimming falling by 18 percent in the second half of the year. This indicates that the EMV rollout in Europe continues to be effective, although international losses are expected to continue, while criminals are able to illegally withdraw cash from ATMs abroad that are not EMV compliant."

Losses from card skimming continue to occur globally. Cases have been reported in Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Africa, Russia and the Middle East, and Europe.

According to EAST, 90 percent of European ATMs are now EMV compliant. All ATMs within the Single European Payments Area are expected to be EMV compliant by the end of 2010. And European ATM deployers continue to invest in anti-skimming devices.

Physical attacks on European ATMs have fallen by 29 percent, namely because of a decrease in the number of reported robberies. But cases of ram raids and ATM burglaries have risen by 32 percent. While the cash losses for such attacks are well below fraud levels, the risks to people and the collateral damage to property continue to remain of great concern to the industry.

For more information about the report, visitwww.european-atm-security.eu.