Skimming, Ram Raids Target Consumers and Their Cash
June 8, 2009 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor

The Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) data breach may be the fraud story of year (so far), but ATM and debit card thefts are growing steadily and frighteningly at financial institutions.

Witness the recent announcement by law enforcement in New York City that a criminal gang had stolen $500,000 from hundreds of customers' bank accounts via skimming devices that read and stored account information at Sovereign Bank branches in Staten Island. The gang installed cameras onto the machines, catching victims typing in their PIN numbers. They also used the information to clone the card information, according to police.

A recent survey by security vendor Actimize shows that almost 70 percent of financial institutions experienced an increase in ATM/debit card fraud claims in 2008 compared to 2007.  Twenty-three percent of respondents say those claims jumped by 5 to 9 percent, while the rest noted growth of anywhere between 10 and 74 percent. These numbers are only expected to grow in 2009, as a result of the recession.

Half of the institutions surveyed say they were hit with fraud complaints that came out of some of the major data breaches, with more than 30 percent saying they had seen fraud incidents as a result of the TJX hack, and 30 percent cited the Heartland hack.

Approximately 80 percent of the survey respondents say the big data breaches can decrease consumer confidence in ATM/debit card use. About 15 percent say they have reissued cards to more than 20 percent of their cardholder customers. In 2008, the financial institutions surveyed lost an average of $744,321 -- with some as high as $12 million -- to ATM fraud alone, and an average of $145,560, or as high as $1 million, to data breaches.

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Skimming, Ram Raids, Phishing, PIN Debit, ATM Fraud Trends, Card Skimming, Ghost ATM's, PIN ID's, Automated PIN Changes, SMS Attacks, Malware, HomeATM, Alternative Payments