ATM users in Queensland are at increased risk of having their accounts stripped by international card-skimming scammers due to a failure to update outdated magnetic strip technology.
Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson of the NSW Fraud Squad told the 2010 National Identity Crime Symposium in Brisbane today tens of millions of dollars were lost in Australia each year as a result of card skimming scams.
Superintendent Dyson said that while most countries had moved to more secure ‘chip-and-pin’ technology, Australia’s failure to do so in ATMS left bank customers more vulnerable to card-skimming.
Advertisement: Story continues below“The chip is, in essence, a computer in itself and that talks to the ATM and if the conversation that the card has with the ATM is not correct, no transaction can be conducted,’’ Mr Dyson said.
‘‘No ATM in Australia is currently chip-and-pin enabled. It should have been rolled out by now.’’
Detective Superintendent Brian Hay, of the Queensland Fraud and Corporate Crime Group, said Australia had become a prime target for international ATM skimming gangs, and that it was only a matter of time before the scam appeared in Australia.
“They’re out there constantly looking for other ways to defeat the current systems,” Superintendent Hay said.
Although he could not say how prevalent ATM skimming already was in Queensland, Superintendent Hay said consumers should take precautions to protect themselves from fraudulent activity at the ATM.
“It should be part of your regular routine to examine your bank statements every month,” he said.
Australian Bankers' Association acting chief executive Ian Gilbert said chip-and-pin technology would be rolled out to ATMs within two or three years, while all outdated EFTPOS technology should be amended by 2014.
Mr Gilbert said banks guaranteed to return any money lost in card-skimming incidents.
BrisbaneTimes.com.au
