EAST publishes its third European Fraud Update for 2015 with updates on ATM crime

The update is based on reports given by the SEPA and non-SEPA country representatives at the 37th EAST meeting

The European ATM Security Team (EAST) has just published its third European Fraud Update for 2015. This is based on country crime updates given by representatives of 17 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and 3 non-SEPA countries, at the 37th EAST meeting held in London on 7th October 2015.

Country crime updates

Card skimming at ATMs was reported by seventeen countries. One country reported the successful usage of a stereo-skimming device, the first time that this has been reported. Another country reported an unsuccessful attack using an ATM shimming device.

The trend of losses due to skimming occurring outside of EMV* Chip liability shift areas continues. Also known as ‘chip and PIN’, EMV is an industry standard for Smart Cards and card readers, supported by the European Payments Council and the major payment schemes. 

International losses were reported in 53 countries and territories outside of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and in 10 within SEPA. The top three locations where such losses were reported were the USA, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Skimming attacks on other terminal types were reported by nine countries and one country reported such attacks at payment terminals linked to docking stations for the hire of bicycles.

Eleven countries reported cash trapping attacks and six countries card trapping incidents.

ATM malware and logical security attacks were reported by two countries - one of them reporting malware used for ‘cash-out’ attacks and the other black-box attacks used for the same purpose.

Ram raids and ATM burglary were reported by seven countries and seven countries also reported explosive gas attacks. In one country the average duration of an ATM explosive gas attack is 3-5 minutes.