FEATURE The Eyes have it

FIVE IMPORTANT TIPS FOR A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION TO BATTLE ATM SKIMMING FRAUD Mike Burke, Robbery and Crisis Management Consultant, Shazam

Tere’s a popular song lyric from the 1980s, “I always feel like somebody’s watching me.” Tese days, it seems as if the wrong kind of eyes are capturing

too many customers’ banking information using skimmers. Skimmers aren’t new, of course. Tey made their debut

overseas years ago, and right now, they’re being discovered more frequently at financial institutions and retailers across the country. Te transition to EMV will eventually help reduce the value

of personal card data by fraudsters and illegal cloning of cards that results from skimming. Tat migration will take years. So, the criminals see a limited opportunity to take advantage of a weak- ness in the system now.

As long as there’s a mag stripe on the back of any card, we’re

going to continue to see the skimming, because that information is still there. Here are five important tips for a financial institution to battle ATM skimmers and white-collar crime.

1. Know your machine. ATM skimmers are often hidden in plain sight. Tese types

of skimmers include card reader overlays, hidden cameras, keypad overlays and holes drilled to install an internal skimmer, which is usually covered with a sticker or panel. Tat’s why it’s critical there is a regular, daily schedule where someone goes out to the machine and checks it out. I know it’s cold, I know it’s raining the criminals are counting on you not making this a priority.

Engagement, education and constant observation are all a good start to

stopping this kind of fraud from costing you and your customers.

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