"ATM skimming has been and will continue to be the number one type of ATM-related fraud," said Tracy Kitten, editor of ATMMarketplace.com. "It's something that the industry has been fighting for a very long time."
The fraud involves accessing bank accounts by capturing the data off customers' bank cards. Criminals attach skimming devices over the card slots on ATMs to steal the information as the machine reads the card's magnetic strip. Hidden cameras -- like those recently found behind extra mirrors -- record victims typing in their PIN codes. More sophisticated criminals use wireless keypad overlays, that transmit a person's PIN to a nearby laptop, instead of the cameras.
Once criminals have that information, they can send it to others who can make illicit transactions anywhere in the world.
The U.S. Secret Service estimates that annual losses from ATM skimming total about $1 billion each year, or $350,000 a day.
Kitten and others emphasize that ATM transactions are mostly secure. According to the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), just .0016 percent of the billions of worldwide ATM transactions are affected by crime or fraud. But they also think that as Canada and European countries abandon the magnetic strip system for a microchip-based approach that is thought to be more secure, ATM fraud in the U.S. could increase.
"Consumers should know that they would not be responsible for any charges or money taken out that they didn't do," said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Chase.
As for the skimming attacks recently reported in New York, Kelly said, "There are a number of security measures that we take that we can't really talk about. We've stepped up our efforts."
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