EAST publishes the first European Fraud Update for 2018

Seven countries reported increases in card-not-present (CNP) fraud related to ecommerce merchants in China. Phishing activity was reported by four countries and one of them reported phishing attacks through advertisements placed on social media sites.

ATM malware and logical security attacks were reported by ten countries. Five of the countries reported ATM related malware and one country reported the first successful Cutlet Maker cash-out attack in Western Europe. Seven countries reported the usage (or attempted usage) of ‘black-box’ devices to allow the unauthorised dispensing of cash. Card skimming at ATMs was reported by sixteen countries. The usage of M3 – Card Reader Internal Skimming devices is most prevalent. Five countries reported such attacks. Skimming attacks on other terminal types were reported by five countries, all of which reported such attacks on unattended payment terminals (UPTs) at petrol stations. One country also reported the use of card shimming devices at POS terminals. To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published three related Fraud Alerts.

Five countries reported incidents of Transaction Reversal Fraud (TRF). Two countries reported a continued increase in such attacks and two countries reported new modus-operandi. To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published two related Fraud Alerts.

This report is based on country crime updates given by representatives of 18 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and 4 non-SEPA countries, at the 44th EAST meeting held in Frankfurt on 7th February 2018.