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'Fancy' ATMs may reduce fraud concerns

As consumers become more savvy and tech-hungry, retailers are turning to ATMs and transactional kiosks that don't look and act like traditional ATMs. But, contrary to the belief of some, could these sexy designs make tampering more difficult for fraudsters?

August 15, 2005 by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC

Since releasing its first ATM - the Mini-Bank 2000 - in 1997, Tranax Technologies Inc. has built a reputation for outside-the-box thinking. Like Tidel and Triton, Tranax is known in the retail world for producing cash machines that are as far from bank-like as ATMs can get. And over the last decade, other, smaller manufacturers catering to the retail market have followed suit.

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But just how sleek, sexy and multifunctional should ATMs be?

Bill Jackson, vice president of research and development for Long Beach, Miss.-based Triton Systems, said security should be a consideration. "All ATMs used to look the same," Jackson said. "They were simple machines that offered basic functions. But that's not the case anymore. There are a lot of ATMs and kiosks out there, and it's hard to know what the machine is supposed to look like and how it's supposed to act."

As Jackson points out, new transactions and functions, coupled with more adventurous and creative designs, could make the fraudster's job easier. "How do you know if it's been tampered with if all of the machines look very different?" Jackson asked.

But Bill Dunn, vice president of Tranax, said "the more modernistic the ATM, the harder it is to put a skimming device on it."

"New-look" ATMs are curvy, Dunn added, making them more tamper-resistant than their square and boxy bank-model predecessors.

ATMs "with more geometric designs" are harder to manipulate - a reason the industry should be pushing financial institutions to more closely consider ATM design - said Rob Evans, director of industry marketing for Dayton, Ohio-based NCR Corp. "The new-look ATMs have a lot of curves, which makes them more difficult to attach devices to."

Look at me

Retailers want ATMs and kiosks that scream high-tech, Triton's Jackson said. So manufacturers that cater to retailers want to build eye-catching machines.

"We all want to differentiate our products," Jackson said. "We don't want our machines to look the same. And we don't want them to look like last year's line or a line we put out 10 years ago. We want them to look modern, but we need to make sure that merchants know what the machines should look like and how they should work."

What's Important

	Retailers don't want to place 'banky' ATMs in their stores.
	ATMs with modern designs may make manipulation for fraudsters more difficult.
	Some say that too many functions on an ATM may make it more susceptible to fraudsters' devices.

Potential tampering poses an interesting dilemma for the industry, said Francie Mendelsohn, president of Rockville, Md.-based Summit Research Associates Inc., pitting practicality and aesthetics against each other.

"ATMs definitely don't look like they used to," Mendelsohn said.

Unlike bankers, merchants may not know so much about ATM security. Simply, merchants place ATMs in their stores because they want to make money on transactions, Jackson said.

"We're starting to take a look" at merchant training, Jackson said. Triton has created a safety checklist that it encourages its independent sales organizations and value-added resellers to review with merchants. Items on the list include:

Performing daily inspections for anything out of the ordinary;
Placing stickers on machines that state, "This Machine is Inspected Daily";
Making daily inspection part of the daily routine for employees;
Reminding merchants to place ATMs in highly visible locations; and
Posting a photo of the ATM as it should appear for employees to view.

"Triton sells to an ISO and then the ISO sells to a merchant, but we don't tell them what they need to be looking out for more. We should be giving them more information about the machine - what it should look like - because they are at their machines on a very regular basis loading cash, or whatever, and they should be inspecting them."

The more transactions a multifunction ATM or kiosk provides, the more the merchant will need to inspect, Jackson and Mendelsohn said.

We all want to differentiate our products. We don't want our machines to look the same. And we don't want them to look like last year's line or a line we put out 10 years ago.

-- Bill Jackson,
Triton Systems

The ATM Industry Association's Global ATM Security Alliance also is taking an interest in education, said ATMIA chief executive Mike Lee. "GASA recommends that ATMs be visited regularly by trained staff - whether bank staff for a bank-branch ATM or merchants for retail and off-premise ATMs - to check the fascia is as it should be."

Dunn said keeping merchants informed is important; but, like Jackson at Triton, he said the responsibility for working with merchants falls on distributors.

"Educating merchants, it is a concern," he said. "Whenever we have distributors' meetings, we talk about these sorts of things. The distributor is responsible for knowing where those ATMs are, and we need to stay in contact with the people you sold the ATMs to."

But most "fancy" ATMs, Dunn said, are in bars, restaurants and other retail environments where constant foot traffic makes altering them difficult.

Keeping it simple

Something can be said for keeping the ATM simple, Mendelsohn said.

Beyond confusing consumers, too many bells and whistles often lead to frustrated merchants. Like Jackson, Mendelsohn said merchants want machines they can make money on, and they don't want a lot of hassle.

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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Triton Systems

Triton FI based products • NO Windows 10™ Upgrade • Secured locked down system that is virus/malware resistant • Flexible configurations - Drive-up and Walk-up • Triton's high security standards • NFC, anti-skim card reader, IP camera and level 1 vaults are all options • Triton Connect monitoring • Lower cost

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