In the digital age, stealing money from customer accounts is becoming more sophisticated.
Moreover, more and more often various technical means are used for this purpose.
One of the options - stealing money from an ATM.
How to protect yourself from troubles and save your personal finances?
In order to successfully resist criminals, it is important to know exactly what methods they use to steal money from an ATM.
1. Skimming
Skimmers are special reading devices.
Fraudsters install them on a functioning ATM in order to copy the necessary information from the magnetic stripe of the owner's bank card (number, first and last name, expiration date, CVC or CVV code).
After that, a duplicate card is created for cashing it out.
2. Fake keyboard
This can be a special "attachment" installed on the ATM keyboard, which externally repeats the original buttons.
When a client withdraws funds from the card, using such a fake keyboard, all pressed keys are remembered, including the PIN.
3. Miniature video camera
Criminals set it up near or above the ATM in order to find out the PIN-code and then try to get hold of the bank card.
When a client types numbers on the keyboard, the whole process is broadcast, for example, on the scammers laptop screen.
4. False Receivers of Money - Lebanese loops
They are plastic envelopes a little larger than the card itself, which is placed in the slot of the ATM.
When the owner of the credit card tries to withdraw cash, Lebanese loops prevent the ATM from reading the data from its magnetic stripe.
Moreover, due to the design of the "envelope" used by the fraudsters, it is also impossible to return the bank card back.
An intruder observing what is happening is called to "help" and advises to enter a PIN, which he will try to spy on.
However, the card naturally remains in the ATM.
If the client moves away from the device (for example, to contact the bank's support), the thief will simply take out the "envelope" with a credit card and disappear.
5. Fake ATM
Criminals can put it in a completely crowded place.
Of course, it will not work and issue money, but it reads the necessary information from the bank cards entered into it.
As a result, money can "go" from client accounts into the pockets of cybercriminals.
6. Spyware viruses
One of the most innovative ways to steal money is when cash dispensers become infected with malware.
As a result of this influence, fraudsters get hold of technical information and PIN-codes of plastic cards of customers who have used the services of these terminals.
But there is good news as well.
It lies in the fact that, subject to basic safety standards, your finances are almost guaranteed to be safe and sound, inaccessible to criminals.
Constantly, when I'm waiting for the ATM to issue the requested amount, I think to myself, but what to do if the money does not come out, but is debited from the account. How can I prove that I didn't take the money?
What, someone will be watching kilometers of video recordings? And it's not a fact that the recording works at all on this ATM.
For such situations, we have collected all possible options for how an ATM can make a mistake and what we need to do in this case.
Scenario 1: ATM seizes the card
Experienced cardholders know what to do in any incomprehensible situations with ATMs: call technical support, block plastic. Then go to the nearest office and write an application for restoration or re-release. There, if necessary, you can withdraw cash from the account.
In rare cases, the card can be returned, as they say, without leaving the cashier. If the computer malfunctions, the bank's technical support can reboot it remotely, as a result of which the precious plastic will return to the owner's hands. According to Arkady, anyone has such a chance - but it is better if you turn out to be a VIP client or can contact the right people directly.
Arkady: “In case of any malfunction, some financial institutions destroy the withdrawn cards and send them for reissue. This usually takes up to five business days. Some take out cards and deliver them to the nearest office. Or they agree with the client about a convenient place of issue. Field technicians today do not have the right to take cards out of the ATM special slot and return them to customers. "
Here it is logical to ask: who is to blame and what to do? More precisely, why are these things happening and how to avoid them?
Arkady: “In order for the device not to take away the card, it is enough not to use it, because any technique is wrong - it’s still mechanics. If we are not talking about random problems, then there are two scenarios of withdrawal:Credit card discredited. In this case, the inscription “card withdrawn by the bank” appears. The latter is simply reinsured if there is the slightest suspicion that the card was copied by fraudsters.
There was a technical glitch while the credit card was inside. To protect yourself as much as possible from this, you need to watch out for the plastic: it should be free of cracks or sticky stickers. The rest of the client cannot predict, since we are talking about the reliability of the equipment, which is hidden from his eyes. "
The decision on whether to wait for the return of the card or to reissue it is made by the owner. It is generally easier to re-release. After all, it is not known exactly when the collectors will arrive, how quickly the credit card will reach the desired office and how easy it is to unblock it.
Scenario 2: the money was debited, but the ATM did not dispense it
If the person did not receive the money at all, then most likely they were not debited from the account, but froze until the transaction was successful. The latter, of course, does not happen - the bills are still inside the machine.
Arkady: “There was a failure in one of the links - either the ATM could not generate the required amount, or the connection with the host was broken. Usually, in such cases, rubles are automatically returned to the account, since the operation is marked as not completed. "
It is not scary if there was no auto return or the client was not able to collect funds on time.
Victor: “The money will go to a special cassette with discarded bills. The same can happen as a result of a failure to dispense cash, an ATM dispenser is a complex and sometimes capricious thing. All information in such cases is recorded in the logs. It is advisable to immediately call the bank, the money will be returned, this is a common case. "
It is worse if the entire amount is debited from the account, and only a part is issued. Then it is much more difficult to prove that "you are not a camel", but really received less money. Therefore, the first thing to do: count the issued cash, standing in front of the camera built into the body. This will facilitate future banking investigations. And, of course, you need to immediately call technical support to explain the situation.
Arkady: “This happens mainly in ATMs, where money goes along conveyor belts. During operation, they stretch a little, the bills go at a greater distance from each other. The dispensing device may simply not reach a part of the bills, but grab and give out only the ones closest to it. "
Scenario 3: ATM did not credit the payment made
If the operation, it would seem, was successful, and the money did not reach the account, we act according to a proven scheme - we contact the bank. Preferably with a check. But if his device did not issue it, then it does not matter: according to the results of the investigation, the entire amount will be credited to the client, since all operations are logged. It happened in this situation.
According to the expert, such episodes are often the fault of the client.
Arkady: “In most ATMs there is a limit on the number of accepted (and issued) banknotes - 40 pieces. A warning is displayed on the screen, but not everyone pays attention to it and may exceed the limit. Often there is a foreign object among the bills - a check or other trifle from a wallet. Of course, a jam occurs.At the request of the cardholder, a bank investigation begins. The device is collected, the surplus is determined. If it matches the figure that the victim named, the money is credited to his account. If the deposited amount is a loan payment, you need to ask the financial institution for a deferral for the duration of the investigation so that a penalty is not charged.
Once there was such a situation: a call came with the reason "funds are not credited to the account." An elderly client raised a panic - how so, they steal! It turned out on the spot that there was no bill acceptor in the “problem” machine, it could only issue rubles. The victim simply did not know about it, and managed to push the cash into the dispenser one by one at a time. "
Scenario 4: NFC and Mobile Payments
Contactless payments are increasingly entering our lives, and not only in large cities. Some ATMs are equipped with NFC interfaces for the convenience of users.
Such scanners seem to be quite safe - as of January 2018 in Russia, they are not involved in any case of fraud. This fact was also confirmed by an information security expert. Having added that in the case of an NFC chip, you need to be afraid of something else:
Victor: “In theory, an attacker can walk on public transport during rush hour and withdraw money using a regular payment terminal. If you are paranoid, you can carry the card in a special case that protects against electromagnetic radiation. "
The same goes for Apple Pay and Google Pay mobile payment technologies, which are equivalent to cards with NFC and are considered a form of RFID, working on the same principle. An important difference: smartphone software can still be hacked. But in theory.
Arkady: “Hypothetically, you can plant a virus in your phone that will read information about payments. But it is securely encrypted. Even if the virus passes it on to scammers (although I have not heard of such cases), it will take years to decrypt. Any information is one-time use and loses its relevance upon completion of the operation. "
Both experts point out: the system is good and convenient, but exactly until an NFC credit card or an unlocked smartphone falls into the wrong hands. A thief or bystander who finds an NFC card can go to a store. And to pay all the way for purchases in the amount of 1000-1500 rubles - these are standard limits, up to which you do not need to enter a PIN.
Scenario 5: caught in a scam
There are swindlers all around, and everyone wants your money. Or bank money - crooks don't care, but it's easier to deceive the average person. It is enough to copy the magnetic stripe of the card, find out the PIN, create a duplicate and gut someone else's account. This process is called skimming and is very common among digital thieves. So take a close look at an ATM - especially an unfamiliar one - before feeding it plastic.
Arkady: “There should be no wires or foreign devices on the surface of the ATM in the vicinity of the card collector. Both will most likely be located outside the case, since otherwise it needs to be drilled, it will be noticeable. To obtain a PIN, as a rule, a video camera directed to the keyboard is hung. It can even be hidden under the bezel that covers the keyboard. Or there may be a thin film that is superimposed on the keyboard or hides under it. "
Viktor, an information security specialist, says these devices are challenging to recognize today, thanks to advanced printing techniques.
Victor: “With the advent of 3D printers, it is much easier for attackers to produce skimmers for various ATM models. It is easy to notice only the most primitive things: traces of glue, plastic of a different color, too protruding keyboard. And a pinhole camera installed on the ceiling for peeping at a PIN is generally very difficult to find. Therefore, cover it with your other hand when entering the code.However, there are no guaranteed ways of protection. Do you have doubts about the reliability of a particular device? It is better not to remove anything from it. Look for an ATM where it is difficult to install a skimmer, say, at a bank branch. "
Have you noticed that amounts are leaking from your account, and the card - here it is, is in your wallet? The first step is to block it. However, the task is not limited to this: with a competent approach and a successful combination of circumstances, the stolen can be returned.
Arkady: “As soon as a notification about a strange withdrawal arrives, you need to immediately run to the ATM or terminal. And try to carry out an operation on the card. This will indicate that the credit card was not lost and was in a completely different place - not where the cashing was performed. That is, the card was duplicated, and the bank will most likely return the money, since it is his fault that the data was stolen. "
However, Victor claims that today crooks are actively switching from users to the ATMs themselves.
Victor: “The service area where the computer is located is not as well protected as the area with money, and is often opened with standard keys. On the forums on the darknet, you can buy programs and hacking instructions. Some attackers even offer training and programs in exchange for a percentage of the stolen funds. As a result, hackers open ATMs, get to the service area, insert a USB flash drive with a keyboard / mouse and launch a special utility. Then you can take the rubles.People around you do not pay attention at all when an attacker comes and starts to disassemble the ATM in order to insert a blackbox there or install an application for dispensing money. We saw footage from surveillance cameras, where people continued to stand in line at the moment when the fraudsters carried out these manipulations - no one raised an eyebrow. "
Scammers are switching to ATMs for a reason. The turnover of cards with magnetic stripes is decreasing today and will come to naught in the foreseeable future, and chip cards are not subject to skimming - they are almost impossible to counterfeit. But you can make it so that you put your hard-earned money into a fake carefully prepared by scammers. In a well-known and completely unsuspecting case, there will only be a bill acceptor, a computer and a skimmer - suddenly there will be a magnetic stripe on the card.
Arkady: “It is not easy to identify a fake, but it is possible. The device should not just stand on the street - genuine ATMs are usually installed in bank branches, large shopping centers or chain stores. It should definitely be alerted if the ATM appeared in a new location and started working on the same day. Its installation is a long and laborious process: at first it is turned off, then it is tuned for some time. Everything takes at least two weeks. Plus, you can always check the legality of the device in the mobile application. If it is not there, notify the bank - they will either confirm the appearance of a new device, or, on the contrary, warn you about swindlers. "
True, such trompe l'oeil is extremely rare today - often in disadvantaged areas.
So what do you need to do?
Say, "Well, nothing like this will happen to me." And, of course, "something like that" necessarily happens, and at the wrong time - for example, when the mortgage is repaid on the last day of the month. How can risks be minimized? First of all, be careful:
before inserting the credit card into the card reader, make sure that it is intact, and, for example, a gum wrap has not adhered to it;
check the number of bills (there should be no more than 40 of them) and the presence of foreign objects in the bundle before feeding it to the bill acceptor;
inspect the ATM - are there any foreign wires, devices near the card reader, cameras aimed at the keyboard, and physical damage?
But even if you are as careful and concentrated as possible, the technique can fail, and the scammers can turn out to be more cunning. In any unclear situation, contact technical support. Have the slightest suspicion that you have become the target of a scam? It is necessary not only to block the card, but also to try to carry out any operation on it as quickly as possible in order to make a mark in the bank database - this will increase the chances of getting the money back.
Finally, a radical option - cut down on communication with ATMs. Payment terminals are found everywhere today. Mobile applications and electronic transactions are still quite reliably protected from hacking and allow you to pay for a whole range of services. There is no need to carry a kilogram of cash with you, and you can always withdraw some amounts in the official department - it is almost impossible to run into a deception there.
Indeed, ATMs have consistently attracted the attention of financial fraudsters. Usually, to steal funds, attackers use traditional methods - they open the device or take the cash along with the "packaging", taking the device away from the bank branch. But the most inventive ones come up with very unusual methods.
ON THIS TOPIC
banknote mosaic
In the Astrakhan region, criminals stole four million rubles by cutting and gluing banknotes. For their machinations, they used six five-thousandth bills and one thousandth. Each of them was cut into six pieces and glued together. As a result, one improved banknote with a denomination of five thousand rubles was obtained, one sixth of which consisted of a thousandth.
The remaining pieces of five thousandth bills were combined and turned into an "extra" banknote. The updated, but insolvent money was credited to the cards through ATMs. By cashing out the funds, the criminals were able to make the money cycle again.
With improvised means
In Saratov, a resourceful fraudster deceived a payment terminal using an ordinary strong thread. Having attached the thread to the five-thousandth bill, he repeatedly lowered it to be credited to the account, and then pulled it back out. Before the arrest, the offender managed to steal 200 thousand rubles.
In Moscow, attackers tried to steal money by pumping gas into an ATM from a cylinder for portable gas stoves. They glued an electric motor from a Chinese toy to the cash dispenser and pressed a button on the remote control. The explosion damaged not only the ATM, but also the lobby of the bank branch. And the unlucky criminals were forced to retire empty-handed.
Creativity
Another unusual method of theft was invented by three malefactors from Udmurtia. They installed fake ATMs of a non-existent bank in Moscow, the Moscow region and Sochi. Gullible citizens tried to use the machines to carry out monetary transactions. As a result, the scammers managed to find out the passwords of more than a thousand bank cards.
In Ufa, hackers penetrated the computer system of an ATM, cracked the service code and "set" the dollar exchange rate at 1.5 thousand rubles. As a result, they managed to exchange 800 dollars for 1.2 million rubles. Within a month, one of the hackers was arrested.
money just sticks
In the Ukrainian Dnieper, resourceful thieves stole more than 40 thousand hryvnias from ATMs using adhesive tape. The criminals installed a special overlay on the device - a plastic panel identical in color to the one intended for issuing money. Sticky tape was glued to its back, which held up the bills during the dispensing of the machine.
The panel was attached in such a way that the money got stuck when exiting through the ATM bill validator. The device turned out to be blocked, information about an error was displayed on the screen. The client, taking the card, went in search of another ATM. And resourceful thieves removed the pseudo-panel along with the adhesive tape and took the money attached to it.
Frenzied ATMs
Kaspersky Lab specialists managed to uncover yet another scheme of theft of funds from banks.Representatives of financial institutions have repeatedly complained about thisthat ATMs spontaneously dispensed funds to people who did not perform any action with them.As a result of the check, it turned out that no malware was installed on the devices themselves. However, such a program was found on a computer that was part of a single network with ATMs.
Thus, hackers gained access to the PCs of bank employees. Then they used legal methods of withdrawing funds: they transferred money using the SWIFT system or cashed out through ATMs.
The criminals have not yet been caught. Meanwhile, the victims of their illegal actions were 30 financial institutions, most of which are located in Russia, the USA, Germany, China and Ukraine. Individual thefts reached $ 10 million, and the total financial losses of all affected banks have already approached a billion dollars, reports.
Meanwhile, Sberbank told about the emergence in Russia of a relatively new method of stealing money from ATMs. It has been reported that this drilled box theft can only be used on certain types of devices.
First, the criminals drill a small hole in the ATM case, and then connect a special bus to it and use it to pump money out of the device. Like Dni.Ru, the fraudulent scheme was discovered about five months ago. However, the ATM maker has not yet responded to the problem.
Let us remind you that the theft of funds on the territory of Russia is a criminal offense. Depending on its severity, the Criminal Code provides for punishment under Article 159 in the form of fines ranging from 80 to 200 thousand rubles, forced labor for up to two years, or imprisonment from one to six years.
Over the past year, robbers attacked 4,000 ATMs in Russia. Losses of banks from such attacks, according to the company "Informzashchita", amounted to 2.5 billion rubles to 7 billion. This year, experts believe, the number of attacks will grow to 5 thousand, and the losses will increase accordingly, Izvestia writes. At the same time, banks do not plan to spend more on the protection of devices. In contrast, from January to June this year, they spent 9% less than a year ago.
How criminals work with ATMs, and why this type of robbery is still not being prevented all over the world (in Europe in 2016, more than 26.5 thousand devices were damaged), MIR 24 understood.
Destroy the ATM
All attacks are divided into physical and logical, and in Russia nine out of ten attacks were of a physical nature. The easiest and most affordable way is to break open the door of the room, pull the ATM out of the wall using a car, load it into the back, and then open it in a safe place. Moreover, in one where the police will not be able to track the device using the GPS-beacon installed inside. For example, in September, six unidentified persons stole an ATM with about 3.6 million rubles from a shopping center in New Moscow.
Alternatively, in some ATM models, the criminals attach a cable to the bill dispensing window and, if it is built into the safe, open the safe cover, after which they leave with the money.
All of the following methods are technically more difficult. For example, it is impossible to gut an ATM on the spot without special skills. Once the police solved a crime in hot pursuit and found the criminals who stole the ATM. It turned out that it took them 16 hours to open the safe installed inside with the help of a grinder. If you use gas-plasma or plasma cutting, then, firstly, an alarm will go off (temperature rise) and a private security company will arrive, and secondly, there may be a layer of concrete in the safe.
Although in 2010 Moscow law enforcement officers with great difficulty managed to detain a gang of intruders who opened ATMs literally like tin cans - it took them less than a minute.
Of course, the ATM can be blown up. However, after explosives, attackers often leave with nothing. It is worth not calculating a little, and either the device is safe and sound, or the money is left alone.
An advanced version of this method has become an explosion with the help, which is pumped into the safe, for example, through a hole for dispensing bills. Then the temperature does not rise, and the explosion knocks out the safe door.
The most important danger for criminals when opening a device remains in place. These are temperature sensors, vibration sensors, gas analyzers, and alarms for damage to various parts of the ATM. If something works at the beginning of the autopsy, then the attacker will be taken "lukewarm".
Agree with an ATM
Another method that is gaining popularity is the Drilled Box, a cross between physical and logical attack. The criminals drill an ATM in a place they know, connect to the control center and break into it. The controlled device independently, without dust and noise, gives the criminals all the money it contains. To fix the vulnerability, for example, it is necessary to strengthen the protection in the place where the hole is made, but updating the ATM fleet is not a quick matter.
Small amounts of money are stolen by cybercriminals using the so-called cash trapping. The main principle is to disrupt the operation of the shutter, the mechanism that dispenses money. In this case, the cardholder tries to withdraw money, but the bills get stuck and the operation is canceled. He sees an inscription that the operation has been interrupted and goes elsewhere. Money is not debited from his card. And the scammers, when the victim has left the place, come up and take out the bills.
Sometimes a stolen or compromised card is used in cash trapping. Having such a card, the criminals first set up a shutter, and then withdraw money as much as they can. Just in case, let us explain that as a way to “make money” on your card, this will not work, because banks always receive information about such operations. And if you still manage to withdraw money, then it is unlikely to avoid responsibility.
Steal the card
Copying a card and finding a pin code is a technically difficult, but at the same time, safe method for an intruder. A so-called skimmer, a device with a magnetic reading head, is installed on the card collector or card reader at the front door to the service area. It either accumulates information about the cards, or transmits it over the radio channel. They also often have a video camera that allows you to see the pin code.
Note that skimmers, if you are ready, are not so difficult to notice - the devices themselves are quite large. Recently, however, criminals are increasingly using an improved method - shimming. It uses a thin and flexible spacer that fits into the slot and does not interfere with the introduction of media into them.
It is impossible for ordinary people to notice such devices. But the method also has disadvantages. First, it is a really expensive and complex technology. Secondly, the pin code still has to be recognized somehow. That is, overlays for the keyboard or video cameras are used, which are already possible to recognize.
After receiving classified information, fraudsters make fake cards and withdraw money from them. This usually happens in another country to avoid responsibility.
A less common, albeit highly original, method is to install counterfeit ATMs. Citizens try to use them, see a mistake and go to another ATM, not realizing that they have just opened their bank card.
Let us remind you that copying does not threaten those who use cards with a chip. It is not yet possible to read information from it, at least there is no information about such cases.
Computer hacking
As in the whole business of computer security, hackers remain a serious problem, who gain access to both ATMs and devices that are on the same network with them.
For example, in February 2015, it became known about an attack on 30 banks that had lost up to $ 1 billion in aggregate. The victims contacted specialists after they noticed that ATMs began to issue bills just like that, without any action from the outside. As it turned out, the hackers hacked into the computers of the bank employees using e-mails with attachments, then issued commands to ATMs via the local network.
But these are big scams. And if you return to the ground, in the event of inadequate protection, hackers can gain control of the ATM even through a regular network port, which is accessible from outside the ATM. By connecting the device to a fake processing center, an attacker will be able to insert any card, enter any PIN code and withdraw all the money available at the ATM. 
However, you can go further: using a virus, each ATM can be turned into a skimmer. The infected machine is activated after entering a special pin code on a special card, and then, in order to cover up the traces, the following code destroys all traces of the malware. The data of all used cards goes to scammers
Each such incident is a serious security flaw, and most banks try to prevent these episodes in advance. But, as already mentioned, it is still a long way from a full-fledged upgrade of the ATM network. Somewhere the banking network may not be segmented, somewhere the ATM does not provide for authentication when exchanging data, somewhere the whitelists of applications that are allowed to run are not configured.
Why it works
First of all, because the banks' spending on full protection, as it turns out, is still less than the possible losses. And, probably, it will never be possible to completely get rid of this type of crime.
A large network of ATMs is an advantage for customers, so banks often install them in places that are not too secure. Or they save on alarms, hoping for, which is sometimes easy to get around. In the end, sometimes the security is just one PSC employee who can be attacked and neutralized. It is not uncommon for criminals to break into bank branches. This is because the leadership buys less fortified devices there and thereby lures criminals.
Reliable protection would be special cassettes with paint inside the safe, which make it senseless to open it. After all, the soiled money still cannot be used or exchanged. However, it is too expensive, and such cassettes are commonly used only in cash collection machines when transporting large amounts of money.
Maxim Konnov
Fraudsters come up with new ways to steal money from bank cards every day. CCTV cameras reduce the interest of criminals in ATMs, but cybercriminals are looking for ways to bypass them.
Theft on the territory of the Russian Federation is a criminal offense, depending on the severity, punishment can be applied under different parts of Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: imprisonment from a year to 10 years, forced labor, a fine from 80 to a million rubles.
Is ATM security questionable?
There are two widespread types of theft of money from payment terminals:
- skimming - an overlay on the card capture reader for reading the pin code;
- "Lebanese loop" - sealing a pocket for dispensing money, in which the ATM announces the withdrawal of money, while the notes remain inside the machine. The victim walks away from the device to complain to an employee of the institution or to call support, and the fraudster removes the sticky strip along with the money and leaves the scene.
The capital's law enforcers interrupted a series of robberies, when the criminals acted like this: they blew up ATMs or wound a chain on them and took them away to open them in an unknown place. This method turned out to be effective, despite the primitiveness.
Stealing money from ATMs: the old ways
The old way to steal money from ATMs is to steal the card after the victim has withdrawn funds. It is also considered a traditional method when an attacker opens the device or takes cash, taking the device away from a bank or supermarket.
Udmurt attackers installed several fake ATMs of a non-existent credit institution in Moscow, the Moscow region and Sochi. Citizens who tried to use payment terminals to carry out monetary transactions later turned to the police with statements about the theft of money. The criminals got hold of the passwords of more than a thousand bank cards.
New ways to steal money
Fraudsters in the Astrakhan region stole 4 million rubles by cutting and gluing banknotes: six five-thousandth bills and one thousandth. Each bill was cut into 6 parts and glued together so that the five-thousandth one was obtained, consisting of 1/6 of the thousandth. The updated, but insolvent money was credited to the cards through ATMs. After cashing out funds, criminals could again make a money cycle.
The Saratov fraudster pulled money out of the payment terminal using a strong thread attached to a five-thousandth bill. Many times he dropped the bill into the terminal for crediting to the account and retrieved it back. So, the offender pulled out 200 thousand rubles.
Hackers from Ufa penetrated into the computer system of the ATM, changed the service code, with the help of which the dollar rate was "raised" to 1.5 thousand rubles, then exchanged 800 dollars for 1.2 million rubles. One of the guilty persons was detained by law enforcement officers.
Kaspersky Lab specialists have uncovered yet another money theft scheme. Representatives of financial institutions complained that ATMs randomly dispensed money to people who did not take any action. Based on the results of the verification activities, it turned out that no virus programs were installed on the devices, but the virus was found on a computer connected to a single network with ATMs. The hackers gained access to employees' computers, then, through legal withdrawal methods, they transferred money using the SWIFT system or cashed out through ATMs. The burglars have not yet been caught, but more than 30 financial institutions in Russia, China, Canada, Ukraine and the United States have suffered from their actions. Some thefts amounted to $ 10 million, and the total financial losses of the affected banks approached $ 1 billion.
Sberbank of Russia announced a new method of stealing money from ATMs, called drilled box. It can only be used in certain types of devices. A small hole is drilled in the body of the payment terminal, and a special bus is connected to pump out money. Despite the disclosure of this fraudulent method, the ATM manufacturer does not respond to the problem.
Note!
The novelties of fraudulent devices include shimmers, produced openly and in large quantities, they are thinner than a human hair. The technology allows you to steal the rate of accounts, pin codes, and other information through an ATM. A flexible metal plate is inserted into the card reader and reads data from the cards. This method can be called advanced skimming.
From the bank's client card
In order to steal money from a bank card, fraudsters often use:
- fake keyboard - a special overlay is installed on the ATM keyboard. She remembers all pressed buttons, including the pin code;
- tiny video camera - installed by fraudsters near or above the keyboard for the same purpose: to find out the PIN-code and take possession of the card for withdrawing funds;
- false money receivers - plastic envelopes that cover the ATM slot;
- fake ATM - installed by criminals in crowded places to collect information about the cards of future victims;
- viral software is an innovative way to steal money when payment terminals become infected with viruses. As a result, fraudulent programs transmit technical information and PIN-codes of customers' plastic cards.
Today, another type of theft is actively developing - account hacking. Criminals gain access to electronic online banking services and electronic wallets from the comfort of their homes. Phishing is a method of fraud, the purpose of which is to seize other people's money by gaining access to confidential information - card number, password, login. For fraud, the distribution of emails, SMS messages from well-known brands and the banks and payment systems themselves is used, which contains a link to a site that looks like the original web resource. Opening the letter, the network user downloads a virus program to the computer that collects information about passwords, logins, payment card numbers and returns to the sender of the program, or automatically starts the transfer of money from all available wallets to the details of the fraudster.
One of the types of card fraud is vinoloker - malware that blocks or complicates the operation of the Windows operating system. A message appears on the victim's screen stating that the functioning of the computer is impossible until a special password is entered, for which it is necessary to send a certain amount to the cybercriminals. After receiving the money, the criminals send a code that permanently or temporarily removes the restrictions, but the problem may arise again.
Note!
It is also possible that after receiving the money, scammers steal information about the card number, pin code, CVV and withdraw all the money on the account, card, in the wallet.
At the bank
The way to instantly pump money out of an ATM is called a drilled box. Scammers drill a hole in a specific configuration of ATM machines and plug in the bus, instantly pumping money out. Modern ATMs are quite well protected from hacking and viruses, it is necessary to put them into a safe mode, when the dispenser and the computer exchange information through cryptographic protocols. Then the fraudster will not be able to do anything with the information bus of the device.
Certain problems arise for banks that have not updated their software to the required level, which operate without protected mode. Some credit institutions require a hardware upgrade.
Independent manufacturers have long invented a device that helps protect against fraudulent attacks, since it controls the connection to the ATM information bus. When connected externally, the ATM dispenser turns off, it stops responding to commands from fraudsters. Banks are working hard to prevent such crimes.
In 2017, Russian ATMs were attacked by a new dangerous virus - contactless hacking of the external circuit of the bank's network, then - the device administration server in the closed network and the direct attack on ATMs. Experts explain that reliable protection is needed, otherwise the network of credit institutions will be compromised. It is necessary to implement specialized information security programs, attract third-party contractors to reduce the risk of security gaps.
If the fraudsters have received the bank card details, it is considered compromised, the data of its owner, logins and passwords for accessing the Internet bank or mobile application become known to the attackers.
How to protect yourself from theft?
- withdraw money from ATMs located inside branches, avoid supermarket areas where there are many people and gunners crowd;
- if the ATM does not see the card that you inserted, or does not return it, urgently call the support service and block the card. Tell the employee the number of the device so that they can check it;
- use SMS-informing about movements on the card account. If you have not performed any transaction with money on the account, immediately inform the bank;
- in case of special problems after blocking the card, you need to come to the office to write a statement of disagreement with the transaction.
More than 80 thousand sites distribute malicious browser extensions through which bank card data is stolen. Be vigilant and don't click on suspicious links.