What Is ATM Skimming

The word skimming in crime is not new as Google encyclopedia defined skimming in crime as "A form of white-collar crime, skimming is slang for taking cash "off the top" of the daily receipts of a business (or from any cash transaction involving a third interested party) and officially reporting a lower total. The formal legal term is defalcation."

ATM skimming is quite different from this skimming referred to as Skimming in Crime as described by Google Encyclopedia. What then is ATM Skimming?

ATM SKIMMING

Business Dictionary defined ATM Skimming as a type of fraud which occurs when an ATM is compromised by a skimming device, a card reader which can be disguised to look like a part of the machine. The card reader saves the users' card number and pin code, which is then replicated into a counterfeit copy for theft.

Skimming Device

The card details and PIN are captured at the ATM and used to produce counterfeit cards for subsequent fraudulent cash withdrawals. The customer sees a normal transaction and retains the card. Multiple cards are compromised in one attack at one ATM. - European Atm Security

How Does ATM Skimming Work?

ATM skimming is like identity theft for debit cards. Skimmers use hidden electronics (pictured above) to steal the personal information stored on your card and record your PIN number to access all that hard-earned cash in your account. Skimming is a method of placing a card reader placed over the ATM's real card slot - krebsonsecurity.com.When you slide your card into the ATM, you're unwittingly sliding it through the counterfeit reader, which scans and stores all the information on the magnetic strip.

ATM Skimming In Nigeria

On the 23rd of April, 2014, Businessday reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave all Nigerian banks a deadline of June 1, 2014 to install anti-skimming device on each Automated Teller Machines (ATM) terminals in all deposit money banks (DMBs) but as of the time this report is issued out by hisgracetech most of the atm around suffers from its installation.

August 20, 2014 thecitizenng.com claims that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed more than 90 per cent of the banks operating in the country have complied with its directive to install Anti-Skimming devices on their Automated Teller Machines, ATMs.

WHY YOU NEED TO BE CAREFUL

According  to Punch newspaper dated April 7, 2015 Skimmers hit the city of Lagos Punch claimed that "A large number of Automated Teller Machines located in some posh areas of Lagos like Victoria Island, Lekki Peninsula Phase I and II, and Ikoyi have been attacked by hackers and electronic fraudsters, it has been learnt".

Punch further describe the method in which the fraudsters carried out their fraud according to what was on Punch "The hackers are said to be fixing small fraud tools on the ATMs in order to harvest the passwords of cardholders who come to collect cash or do some other transactions on the machines".

Punch claimed that "A banker told our correspondent, “A number of the ATMs in Victoria Island and Lekki axis have been compromised by hackers. Some of these fraudsters visit those ATMs very late in the night or very early in the morning to fix some fraud devices on them, which are capable of collecting cardholders’ information, including their passwords.

“They come back later to remove those devices. The information collected is then used to commit fraud against those customers later.

“Most of us (banks) are aware of the development and we are very vigilant now. What some of us have done is to get a patrol team of security men to start combing the affected areas and the ATMs from time to time. We will get those guys soon.”

In confirmation of the incident, Punch later claimed that "The Vice-Chairman, Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads, Mr. Dele Adeyinka, confirmed the fraudsters’ activities.

He, however, said that following the banks’compliance with the CBN directive asking them to install anti-skimming devices on their ATMs, it would be difficult for the fraudters’ devices to work.

He said, “Yes, it is true that hackers are carrying out those activities. It is not only in Victoria Island axis, they are doing it everywhere. But all the banks have complied with the CBN directive on anti-fraud tools. So, it will be difficult for those fraud devices to work.”

Be careful!

Posted in: ICT UPDATES