News

ATM fraud rises in Europe; cash-trapping skyrockets

April 10, 2012

The nonprofit European ATM crime-tracking organization EAST said total ATM-related fraud incidents in its member countries increased 61 percent — from 12,383 to 20,244 — from 2010 to 2011. The new numbers came from a semi-annual report from EAST.

Cash trapping accounted for 53 percent of all fraud incidents, exploding from 240 cases in 2010 to 10,808 incidents in 2011 — a 45-fold increase. In a cash-trapping attack, criminals prevent money from being dispensed during a legitimate transaction and then remove the cash after the customer has left the ATM.

Last year's rise in cash trapping was only slightly offset by a 26-percent reduction in card skimming in 2011 to its lowest level since 2008. The report credited the drop in skimming for an overall reduction in fraud attack losses of 13 percent for the year. Skimming losses fell 13 percent from €267million ($349 million) to €232 million ($303 million); overall losses declined from €268 million ($350 million) to €234million ($306 million).

The drop in European skimming losses indicated the benefits of EMV deployment, the EAST report said. Additionally, it showed that countermeasures such as geo-blocking, fraud monitoring and fraud detection continue to improve.

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