News

Terminal fraud attacks increasing in Europe

April 14, 2020

Terminal fraud attacks were up 35% in 2019, according to the European Association for Secure Transactions. It released the European Payment Terminal Crime Report Tuesday, which found that terminal-related fraud attacks rose from 13,511 to 18,217 incidents, mainly driven by an 87% increase in ATM transaction reversal fraud attacks (up from 4,843 to 9,054 incidents), while card-skimming incidents fell 21% to an all-time low (down from 1,883 to 1,496 incidents) according to a press release.

ATM-related physical attacks were up 0.5% (from 4,579 to 4,571 incidents). Attacks due to ram raids and ATM burglary were down 11% (from 1,256 to 1,122 incidents) and ATM explosive attacks (including explosive gas and solid explosive attacks) were down 7% (from 1,052 to 977 incidents). Losses due to ATM related physical attacks were (22 million euros)  39% decrease ( 36 million euros) reported in 2018.

The average cash loss for a robbery was estimated at 20,369 euros per incident, and the average cash loss per explosive or gas attack was 10,735 euros and the average cash loss for a ram raid or burglary attack was 9,377 euros. These figures did not take into account collateral damage to equipment or buildings, which can be significant and often exceeds the value of the cash lost in successful attacks.

A total of 140 ATM malware and logical attacks were reported, down from 157 in 2018, an 11% decrease. All the reported attacks were "cash-out" or "jackpotting" attacks. In 118 attacks, equipment typically referred to as a "black box" was used, and malware was used in the other 22 attacks. Related losses were up 142%, (0.45 million euros to 1.09 million euros).

"Despite the overall rise in terminal fraud incidents, total reported losses were almost unchanged. Transaction reversal fraud losses did rise( from 2.6 million euros to 5.2 million euros), but the continued drop in skimming incidents has helped to keep the overall loss position stable," said Lachlan Gunn, EAST executive director in the release. Total losses of 249 million euros were reported, up 1% (from the 247 million euros reported in 2018). Overall losses due to card skimming were unchanged and losses due to card trapping were down by 14% (from 2.9 million euros to 2.5 million euros).