ATM Skimming Hits Just a Few Machines, Finds National ATM Council Survey

There may be less ATM skimming going on than is commonly thought. Most ATMs placed in retail locations—93%—have not experienced a skimming incident, finds a survey from the National ATM Council Inc., which represents independent ATM operators.

Skimming happens when a consumer inserts a credit or debit card into what he assumes is a legitimate card reader that was actually placed by a criminal to capture data. Unattended locations, such as ATMs and fuel pumps, are popular, though retail point-of-sale equipment also can be targeted.

When asked how many times a skimming device was found or removed from an ATM, “never” was the most popular response from the 166 ATM operators surveyed. Six percent said between one to five times, followed by 0.60% each for six to 10 times and more than 10 times.

The results confirm that card skimming is very limited at retail ATMs, says Bruce Renard, NAC executive director, in an email to Digital Transactions News. “This is in stark contrast to recent reports of higher levels of card fraud reported elsewhere for this ATM market segment,” Renard says. “Nonetheless, NAC takes the skimming threat seriously, especially given the jump in card fraud experienced in other countries undergoing EMV implementation, as criminals see the window closing for this type of fraud.”

EMV chip cards are specifically designed to thwart counterfeit card use. There already is evidence it’s working at point-of-sale terminals, with MasterCard reporting a 27% decrease in overall U.S. counterfeit card fraud dollar volume due to at a group of large chip-enabled merchants.

Retail ATMs also have an advantage from constant oversight, the NAC says. Most of these machines are placed so there is constant line-of-sight surveillance by store employees, and frequent consumer traffic. “In-store ATMs present less attractive targets for criminals seeking to steal your card data,” he said.

A full 89% said half or more of their ATMs are in locations staffed by store employees who are present and able to observe the machines when they are available for use.

“Unmanned outdoor walk and drive-up bank ATMs involve higher transaction volumes, which also make them more attractive targets for card-skimming theft,” Renard said.

The NAC data runs counter to a report earlier this year from the Fair Isaac Corp., better known as FICO, that found in 2015 non-bank operated ATMs accounted for 60% of all ATM compromises.

The NAC’s survey data found that 62% of ATMs are inspected at least once a week.