EDINBURGH, Scotland – The European ATM Security Team (EAST) recently published its third European Fraud Update for 2016. The report is based on country crime updates provided by representatives of 18 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and six non-SEPA countries.

According to the report, card skimming at ATMs was reported by 19 countries, and the usage of internal skimming devices continues, where the device is placed at various locations inside the motorized card reader behind the shutter.

International skimming related losses were reported in 57 countries and territories outside of the SEPA. The top three locations where such losses were reported are the United States, Indonesia and India. Meanwhile, skimming attacks on other terminal types were reported by eight countries, and six countries reported such attacks on unattended payment terminals at retail fueling stations.

ATM malware and logical security attacks were reported by eight countries all involving the usage (or attempted usage) of “black-box” devices to allow the unauthorized dispensing of cash. To help counter such attacks, the Europol document “Guidance and Recommendations Regarding Logical Attacks on ATMs” is now available in four languages: English, German, Italian and Spanish.

Ram raids and ATM burglaries were reported by nine countries, and 11 countries reported explosive gas attacks, four of them seeing big increases in such attacks. The use of solid explosives continues to spread, and six countries reported such attacks.

Payment fraud issues were reported by eight countries. Two of them reported data breaches and one updated on contactless card fraud. One country reported fraud relating to a popular games console and another fraud related to advertising on social media.