According to the research carried out by the European ATM Security Team (EAST), annual losses due to card skimming in Europe have dropped from EUR 484 million in 2008 to EUR 310 million in 2009. The fraud diminution indicates that the rollout of EMV-enabled cards at ATMs in Europe has contributed to the reduction of skimming losses, and also that fraud counter-measures, fraud monitoring capabilities and fraud detection continue to improve.
Nevertheless, the same research highlights that the overall ATM related fraud attacks have increased 8 percent in Europe within the same time frame, reaching a total of 13,269 incidents reported in 2009 versus the 12,278 incidents in 2008.The rise can be ascribed to a 209 percent increase in the card trapping cases while the total number of skimming incidents reported decreased by 1 percent over the same period.
Furthermore, attacks on the staff involved in the cash replenishment and servicing of ATMs rose by 40 percent (from 365 to 510 incidents) although the number is still well below the 1,950 cases reported in 2007.
The report is biannually prepared by EAST, a non-profit organisation, to provide an overview of the European ATM crime situation for law enforcement officers and EAST members, using statistics provided from 23 European states.
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