MANILA, Philippines-Authorities on Wednesday bared throughout a Senate hearing the various modus operandi used by criminals to steal information from automated teller machine (ATM) cards that resulted to over P200 million stolen deposits this past year.
AP FILE PHOTO/Gene J. Puskar
In 2013 alone, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recorded 1, 272 reports of ATM fraud involving around P220 million lost to the scam, Vicente de Villa III, director of BSP’s Supervisor Data Center, said throughout a joint hearing of the committees on public order, banks, and trade.
De Villa said the total amount lost this past year was greater than the P175 million in 2012.
The normal modus operandi now used by perpetrators was by using a “skimming plate, ” that is positioned on top of keypads to copy the non-public identification number (PIN) of depositors, authorities said through the hearing.
“Ito na ho yung common, hindi mo na kailangan yung camera (This is currently the normal strategy, the camera is not any longer needed), ” one official told the committees.
“The devices used are smaller when compared to a deck of cards and so are usually fastened near, or higher the very best of the ATM’s factory-installed card, ” browse the power point presentation presented by the authorities through the hearing.
The presentation showed a few images to recognize the standard ATM machines from tampered ones.
In the standard ATM machine, the flashing card entry indicator could possibly be seen easily within the tampered machines, no flashing card entry could possibly be seen and the “shape of the snout differs. ”
“Most skimming devices will obscure the flashing card entry indicator, ” de Villa said in his presentation.
That he flashed an image showing a “PIN capturing device” suited to the of the ATM and a brochure holder with a pin-hole camera positioned on the medial side of the ATM frontage wall used to fully capture pictures of the keypad and clients inputting their PIN.
Authorities said skimming devices are usually mounted on ATMs throughout quiet - either morning hours or late evening.
Some criminals, they said, may also be trying to sell bank, ATM, and charge card information on line.
“So the anti-cybercrime group can be monitoring on line activity, ” a police official said through the hearing.
To handle this issue, the BSP has issued a directive requiring all banks to shift from the magnetic stripe to an EMV (Euro Master Card Visa).
Unlike the magnetic stripe which contains permanent information that may be copied easily, the EMV card is reported to be “more dynamic” rendering it more challenging to steal information.
