ATM jackpotting attacks fall in Europe

EAST has published a European Payment Terminal Crime Report covering 2021 which highlights a fall in ATM jackpotting attacks.

ATM malware and logical attacks against ATMs were down 74% (from 202 to 52). All the reported attacks were aimed at ATM jackpotting, either using black box attacks or malware. A black box attack is the connection of an unauthorised device which sends dispense commands directly to the ATM cash dispenser, to ‘cash-out’ or ‘jackpot’ the ATM. Related losses fell from €1.2 million to €0.7 million).

EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn said, “This fall in ATM malware and logical attacks is great news and reflects the hard work that has been put in by the industry and law enforcement to address the issue. Most such attacks remain unsuccessful. A recent trend is a shift from logical black box attacks to malware attacks aimed at ATM jackpotting. When executed similar holes are made in the ATM fascia and so it can be difficult to work out which type of attack took place. Our Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF) is focussed on countering such attacks, with close cooperation between industry partners and law enforcement. EGAF is working with Europol right now to update a document entitled ‘Guidance & recommendations regarding logical attacks on ATMs’, which has been a key tool in the fight against such attacks.”

Terminal related fraud attacks were down 8% (from 6,523 to 5,969 incidents). All fraud types were down except for cash trapping at ATMs, which increased by 14% (from 1,829 to 2,086 incidents). Total losses of €198 million were reported, down 9% from the €218 million reported in 2020. Most losses remain international issuer losses due to card skimming, which were €166 million.

ATM related physical attacks were up 6% (from 3,722 to 3,947 incidents). Attacks due to ram raids and ATM burglary were down 40% (from 749 to 447 incidents). ATM explosive attacks (including explosive gas and solid explosive attacks) were down 32% (from 923 to 629 incidents). Losses due to ATM related physical attacks were €10 million, a 55% decrease from the €22 million reported during 2020. 64% of these losses were due to explosive attacks, which were down 56% from €14.59 million to €6.35 million.

A summary of the report statistics under the main headings is in the table below.

The full Crime Report is available to EAST Members (National, Global and Associate)