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Prevention

Of course, ATMs are generally under camera surveillance, but it may take months before the skimming attack on a specific ATM is detected, and by that time surveillance videos may have been deleted, and the perpetrators may have disappeared. However, several innovative technological solutions have been developed. Many large banks are taking action to detect when their ATMs have been manipulated and prevent it. Some ATMs now also have embedded anti-skimming equipment, while others can be upgraded.

Sometimes, scammers try to get your pin code from a brochure holder on the side rather than from the top.

Wincor-Nixdorf is installing inductors to detect skimming modules around the slit where the card is inserted. If anything suspicious is detected, the ATM is taken out of operation. Unfortunately, this approach has a major shortcoming: any piece of metal that comes near the slit will take the ATM out of operation. Some banks are therefore shying away from this solution, which is an open invitation to pranksters.

A video camera between the stickers indicating the cards accepted films the keypad.

NCR uses a procedure that does without an additional module: when the card is drawn in, it is jerked back and forth to prevent the skimming module's card reader from synchronizing the magnetic strip. Called "jittering", this approach only hampers modules that read out binary data and store it on the card. It apparently does not help against modules that store the sequence of the magnetic field as raw data because the jitter can be filtered out later by the scammers in the lab. Indeed, skimmers have already reportedly had some success cracking such jitter-proof modules used in NCR's 1700 series ATMs used by Germany's Postbank. In contrast, many providers simply install a camera that monitors the ATM's appearance and activities around it. Generally, an employee keeps an eye on the monitor and switches off the ATM as soon as anything changes.

Synfis' CPK+ anti-skimming module supports an additional 30 sensors that detect a number of types of manipulation and status of an ATM.

Synfis' CPK+ Anti-Skimming module actively defends an ATM by using a modulated alternating magnetic field to disrupt the magnetic head used in the skimming module. As soon as the card has been passed through the skimmer and is inside the ATM, the module switches off. Synfis says that its module works on all ATMs regardless of the model and that almost 20,000 have been installed worldwide.

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