Increase in ATM “Skimmer” Incidents

By Styskal, Wiese & Melchione

Several clients have recently contacted our office for assistance in relation to ATM “skimmer” devices that have been placed on their ATMs. These devices allow fraudsters to capture information when a consumer inserts his or her debit card into the ATM, such as the member’s name and card’s magnetic stripe, CVV, expiration date, and card number, and to use that information to generate new “fake” plastic cards that subsequently are used for fraudulent transactions. These ATM “skimmer” devices have become increasingly sophisticated, and pose challenges to credit unions in a number of areas. All credit unions should consider implementing appropriate fraud mitigation measures to limit their exposure to such incidents. Affected credit unions will also need to consider the member response, privacy and data breach notice implications and related reputation risk.