The analysis of fraud reports from member banks, card associations and law enforcement agencies in 11 European countries for the first six months of 2011 reveals that cash trapping is starting to become a problem again.
Cash trapping is where the fraudsters typically place a false chute in the cash delivery mechanism so that the user thinks their cash has not been dispensed.
EAST reports that a total of 11,220 incidents were reported through to the end of June, compared to 6,649 attacks for the first six months of last year.
Interestingly, over the six months to June 2011, the association repots that incidences of card skimming fell by 33% to the lowest level since 2008, with losses due to ATM related fraud attacks falling by 28% from 144 million to €112 million. This fall, the group added, is driven by a continued reduction in losses due to card skimming attacks, which fell 22% from €143 million to €111 million.
EAST director and coordinator Lachlan Gunn said that, while there has been a significant surge in cash trapping activity, related losses were less than €0.5 million, or just 0.4% of total reported fraud-related losses.
“While some cash trapping losses may not have been reported, criminals are limited to actual customer withdrawal amounts for this form of attack. The increase in cash trapping activity almost certainly reflects the success of European ATM deployers and card issuers in tackling skimming related crime, for which reported losses have fallen for the past seven reporting periods”, he explained.
“Criminals may be shifting their focus as cash trapping can succeed in the EMV or Chip and PIN environment, although counter-measures are being rolled out”, he added.
Analysis of the frauds suggests that the majority (77%) of ATM related card skimming losses continue to be international – defined as losses outside national borders by criminals using stolen card details – with most occurring in countries outside of Europe.
The risk of counterfeit 'smart card' cards being used to withdraw cash fraudulently from ATMs in parts of the world that are not EMV compliant also remains high and is leading some European card issuers to implement additional security measures such as regional card blocking.
Physical attacks on European ATMs, meanwhile, have fallen by 21% when compared with the first six months of 2010 (down from 1,087 to 857 incidents). Despite this fall, EAST reports that the overall number of incidents the number of reported explosive and gas attacks (219) has gone up for the third successive reporting period, and is up 90% when compared to the first six months of 2010.