ATEFI signs Strategic Agreement with AMERIPOL

The Latin American Association of Operators Electronic Funds Transfer and Information Services (ATEFI) has signed an Agreement of Understanding and Mutual Cooperation with The Police Community of the Americas (AMERIPOL). This public-private sector Agreement, signed in in Buenos Aires (Argentina), enables ATEFI and AMERIPOL, through collaboration and mutual professional training, to carry out preventive and investigative actions through forensic analysis of fraud and cybercrime cases.

In May 2016 EAST and ATEFI joined forces to to further strengthen inter-regional cooperation in combating all types of payment crime including payment card fraud, hi-tech crime and ATM cyber and physical attacks and in October 2015 EAST participated in a two-day meeting  in Bogota (Colombia) to discuss payment card fraud overseas and money withdrawals in Latin America.  This meeting, attended by AMERIPOL, was organised by Europol in cooperation with the Colombian authorities (Policia Nacional and its Liaison Bureau at Europol) with the financial support of the Romanian authorities.

This new public-private sector initiative in Latin America is welcomed by the industry in Europe as another step forward in global efforts to tackle transnational payment fraud and financial crime.  EAST has worked with Europol since 2004, a partnership that was strengthened in June 2015 by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and in June 2017 EAST and ASEANAPOL formalised collaboration.  ASEANAPOL is the National Police organisation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

EAST assists Europol-ASEAN Strategic Payment Card Fraud Meeting

Payment Card Fraud - 5th Strategic MeetingEAST presented at the 5th Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud held in Hanoi, Vietnam on 29-30 May 2018.  EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn gave an overview on Terminal Fraud and Payment Fraud as seen by the industry in Europe and highlighted the issue of related fraud migration to China and the ASEAN region.

The growing presence of chip cards in the European Union (EU) has seen an increase in fraudulent payments with European cards at ATMs in Asian countries. Organised crime groups from Europe set up cells in Asia, creating an illegal network, which resulted not only in a higher number of fraud cases, but also in an increase of violence and serious incidents where members of criminal organisations were killed.

The Payment Card Fraud Meeting was aimed at consolidating and strengthening cooperation under the EURASEAN Investigative Network on Payment Card Fraud to provide an adequate and effective answer to this criminal phenomenon. This network, led by Europol, is supported by both ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL, law enforcement officers from EU Member States and 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) with the assistance of EAST representing the private sector.

The EURASEAN network, established last year, has been increasingly efficient and boosted several investigations that led to arrests between Bulgaria and Vietnam, France and Thailand and Romania and Indonesia. International cooperation, based on the exchange of information, technical support and strategies, whereby organised criminal groups active in Asia and Europe were disrupted, fugitives detected, false ID documents seized and criminal assets recovered.

In the fight against fraudulent payments and cybercrime, law enforcement agencies are not the only ones involved: a fundamental role is also played by the private sector. Stopping cyber fraud in the financial sector requires dealing directly with the private sector.  EAST has been closely working with Europol since 2004 and has had working relationships with ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL since 2015.

The trusted relationships established between Europol, ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL are a crucial factor in strengthening security and, ultimately, protecting EU citizens.

The meeting was financed by EMPACT (European multidisciplinary platform against criminal threats) and led by Romania. Bulgarian authorities led the action on cooperation with Asian countries.

EAST has supported all five of the Strategic Meetings on Payment Card Fraud held to date in the ASEAN region, as well as related meetings held in Europe and Latin America.

Message from the Executive Director

The end of another busy year is almost upon us.  On behalf of the EAST Board I would like to thank everyone who has contributed towards the continued success of EAST this year – and it has been a very busy year.  In June we changed our name to become the European Association for Secure Transactions, the culmination of many discussions held by our Board and National Members, and positioning EAST to continue to be able to support the needs of our members in the fast changing payments landscape.  The announcement was made at our Third EAST FCS Forum in The Hague.  This well-attended event, the best yet, also featured two new interactive workshops run by EAST EGAF and EAST EGAP.

We held National Member meetings in Oslo in February (our 41st Meeting hosted by Bits AS), in The Hague in June (our 42nd Meeting hosted by Europol) and in Edinburgh in October (our 43rd Meeting hosted by the LINK Scheme).  In January Halo BCA joined EAST as a new National Member for Indonesia and in April Banorte IXE joined EAST as a new National Member for Mexico

The EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF), chaired by Otto de Jong, held three meetings in January, May and September, all hosted by ING in Amsterdam.  EGAF updated its guidelines on standardising terminology for locations of Card Data Compromise (CDC) devices at ATMs and also the definitions used to report and classify ATM fraud.  Law Enforcement participation is from Europol, the US Secret Service, the BKA and the French Gendarmerie (IRCGN).

The EAST Expert Group on ATM and ATS Physical Attacks (EGAP), chaired by Graham Mott, held two meetings in March and September, both in The Hague, one hosted by Europol and the other by the LINK Scheme.  Law Enforcement participation in this group is increasing with LEAs from 8 different countries participating, in addition to Europol.

The EAST Payments Task Force (EPTF), chaired by Rui Carvalho, held its first face-to-face meeting in April and its second meeting last month.  Both were hosted by the BPFI in Dublin.  This group will add value to the payments industry by using the unique and extensive EAST National Member platform and Associate Member network to provide information and outputs that are not currently available elsewhere.  Law Enforcement participation is from Europol and the US Secret Service.

In addition to the work of the above groups, we supported Law Enforcement during the year by presenting at:  the Europol Training on Payment Card Forensics; an INTERPOL event focussed on countering Cyber and Financial Crimes; Europol’s 4th Strategic Payment Card Fraud meeting in Asia; and Europol’s first combined Strategic Payment Card Fraud Meeting with representatives from Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America.

We took part in the 5th Europol-INTERPOL Cybercrime Conference and formalised a relationship with ASEANAPOL, another step forward in addressing the consequences of the spread of the activities of organised criminal groups across regions and globally.

We also presented at the following private sector events: the MasterCard Global Risk Leadership Conference – Europe, the NCR Fraud & Security Summit, the Third Latin America Security Forum, and the General Assembly of Vigie Billet.

EAST continues to keep abreast of the latest fraud trends and crime information, publishing our European Payment Terminal Crime Reports and European Fraud Updates.  Our thanks again go out to all the people and organisations that have shared information for the above, and for EAST Fraud Alerts (41 sent out this year to date), and EAST ATM Physical Attack Alerts (12 sent out this year to date).  Our first Payment Alert is expected to be published shortly.

EAST Associate Membership continues to grow.  We now have 192 Associate Member organisations from 52 countries and territories.  This membership category is open for worldwide application to all Banks, Law Enforcement (free membership available), and other approved ATM Stakeholder organisations.

Wherever you are reading this I would like to wish you a wonderful festive break and a very happy New Year!

Kind regards

Lachlan

 

EAST supports Europol Strategic Payment Card Fraud Meeting

On 20-21 November 2017, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), with the support of EAST, hosted an international meeting with a specific focus on combating payment card fraud across Europe and beyond.

In its sixth occurrence since it was first organised in Singapore in 2015, this meeting was held for the first time at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague, bringing together representatives from 3 regions of the world: 8 EU Member States (Portugal, Greece, France, Denmark, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy), Latin America (Argentina, Dominican Republic, Chile, Colombia and AMERIPOL) and Asia (Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and ASEANAPOL).

The EAST presentation focused on combating payment card fraud from the perspective of the private sector – EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn gave an overview of EAST and presented the latest threats, criminal methodologies and crime and fraud statistics.  EAST Development Director Rui Carvalho, who chairs the EAST Payments Task Force (EPTF), covered the latest payment crime trends as reported at the 43rd EAST Meeting.

The latest European Central Bank Report estimates €1.44 billion losses in Payment card fraud in 2013 The overall losses were up 8%. Card Not Present (CNP) fraud has experienced significant increases in Europe in the last years and although Card Present Fraud (CP) within the EU decreased during the last years still remain significant as the EMV (chip and pin) protection has not yet been fully implemented. In fact, organised crime groups set up permanent bases in overseas locations where Chip is not implemented cashing out compromised European cards.

EAST has supported all the Europol Strategic Meetings on Payment Card Fraud held in the ASEAN and LATAM regions.

 

EAST and ASEANAPOL formalise collaboration

EAST and ASEANAPOL have formalised collaboration.  This was agreed by the 37th ASEANAPOL Conference held in Singapore on 11-15 September 2017 and by the 43rd EAST Meeting held in Edinburgh on 4th October 2017. This collaboration is another step forward in addressing the consequences of the spread of the activities of organised criminal groups across regions and globally.

ASEANAPOL is the National Police organisation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Working with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) EAST has attended four Strategic Meetings on Payment Card Fraud that were held in the ASEAN region.  At the most recent meeting in July 2017, the increasing threat posed by fraudulent payment card activities by organised crime groups led to the creation of the Investigative Network of Law Enforcement specialists from the European Union and ASEAN countries (EURASEAN). This initiative, led by Europol, is supported by both ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL, with the assistance of EAST representing the private sector.

In June of this year ASEANAPOL gave a presentation at the 3rd EAST FCS Forum in the Hague.  Mr Ferdinand Bartolome, Director for Police Services, ASEANAPOL Secretariat, gave a presentation which covered ASEANAPOL and its initiatives in the pursuit of payment card fraud, initiatives undertaken with EUROPOL and trends and counter-measures in ATM fraud.  Mr Bartolome is pictured left, with EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn, at the event.

In a European Payment Terminal Crime Report, published today, EAST shows that out of total reported losses of €118 million, suffered by European card issuers due to payment card skimming, and reported for the period January to June 2017, €96 million were international skimming losses.  Such losses are committed outside national borders by criminals using stolen card details.  The majority of these losses were seen in the USA and the Asia-Pacific region. The above-mentioned EURASEAN initiative, and the EAST-ASEANAPOL collaboration, are significant steps forward in the efforts to counter the spread of such losses.

EAST assists new EURASEAN Investigative Network On Combating Cyber Fraud

The increasing threat posed by fraudulent payment card activities by organised crime groups has led to the creation of the Investigative Network of Law Enforcement specialists from the European Union and ASEAN countries (EURASEAN). This initiative, led by Europol, is supported by both ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL, with the assistance of EAST representing the private sector.

This network comprises law enforcement officers from EU Member States and 10 ASEAN countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

This initiative was established during the 4th Payment Card Fraud meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia. This event, which was organised by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) on 19 and 20 July 2017, provided the law enforcement community with a comprehensive overview of payment card fraud issues, such as compromising payment card data, ATM malware and e-Commerce fraud. EAST development Director Rui Carvalho (on the left in the above picture) presented at the event.

The event, which was co-organised with ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL, with the support of the Romanian National Police and the Indonesian National Police (INP) was hosted by the EU Delegation to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam. A specific action plan concerning further cross-regional cooperation between European and Asian law enforcement was devised, following recent successful operations between the two regions.

EAST has supported all the Strategic Meetings on Payment Card Fraud held in the ASEAN region.

3rd EAST FCS Forum – the most successful yet!

EAST FCS ForumThe sun has set on another successful EAST Financial Crime & Security (FCS) Forum which was held for the second time at the Grand Hotel Amrâth Kurhaus, in Scheveningen, The Hague. Feedback from delegates has been hugely positive.  This year marked a new format which included plenary sessions covering expert information from global regions: Asia-Pacific (ASEAN), Latin America, USA, Russia and Europe. 19 expert speakers travelled from 14 countries around the world to share their knowledge of ATM crime prevention.

In addition an afternoon of breakout sessions was held covering topics related to ATM and payment terminal fraud, and to ATM physical attacks.

Networking opportunities were abundant – a welcome cocktail the evening before the event, ensured all delegates were comfortable to kick off the Forum having met with their peers in a relaxed environment. Exhibitors enjoyed increased traffic through the exhibition hall, giving demos to attendees during coffee breaks, lunch and demonstration sessions.

 

Day One of the EAST FCS Forum opened with keynote speaker Steven Wilson, Head of the Europol Cyber Crime Centre (EC3) who spoke about the multi-faceted approach to countering cybercrime and the success of public private partnerships, especially the cooperation between EC3, non-EU States and EAST members.

Lachlan Gunn, Executive Director EAST, provided relevant statistics from the EAST European ATM Crime Report. He also announced a name change for EAST which is now the European Association for Secure Transactions. A milestone for EAST which has mainly focused on issues facing the ATM industry thus far, but which will now look at all threats against payment terminals (ATM, SST and POS), as well the security of payments and transactions.

Lachlan was followed by presenters from ASEANAPOL, the US Secret Service, the Russian Mastercard Members Association, and from the Latin American Association of Operators Electronic Funds Transfer and Information Services (ATEFI), who all gave the audience the most current information on activity in their regions.

In the afternoon breakout sessions Otto de Jong, EAST EGAF Chair, led discussions which covered R&D by fraudsters on EMV and old school ATM Fraud, and Graham Mott, EAST EGAP Chair, facilitated discussions on banknote degradation, physical attack types and countermeasures and traditional attacks.

The day closed out nicely with a BBQ by the beach!

Day Two kicked off with Group-IB providing an overview on the evolution of logical attacks on financial institutions. This was followed by a case study on Black Box attacks from NCR Czech Republic and an update from ING Netherlands on the evolution of gas and solid explosive attacks. There was a case study on countering such explosive attacks from the UK’s West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, and the final talk of the day came from Rui Carvalho, Development Director EAST, who is building the EAST Payments Task Force and provided an overview on current and future activities for EAST.

In her closing address, conference Chairman Úna Dillon, Development Director of EAST, summarised the two-day conference by noting the importance of cross-border public-private sector cooperation in the fight against financial crime – stressing the need for private sector industry stakeholders to collaborate with law-enforcement agencies. She added that whilst EAST delivered the conference, the people charged with building the event are also deeply involved in the collaborative work already going on. Their ‘on-the-ground’ involvement means the EAST FCS Forum agenda will always be relevant and current.

This 3rd EAST FCS Forum has proven to be a successful platform in bringing together the perfect mix of banking representatives, security experts, law enforcement, payments associations, government agencies and many other stakeholders in the ATM and payment crime prevention sector  –  the dialogue and learning from  across Europe, the USA, Latin America, Russia and Asia-Pacific will no doubt help all participants to better detect and prevent current and future financial crime threats.

The event could not have taken place without the support of sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and delegates. EAST hugely appreciates the participation of all who took part and thanks everyone for their contribution to making the event a success.

Overall sponsor of the EAST FCS Forum 2017 was 3SI Security Systems.

Other sponsors and exhibitors included, the ATM Security Association, ACG, BVK, GMV, MIB, Startech Ltd. and TMD Security.

Message from the Executive Director

Another year is almost over.  On behalf of the Board I would like to thank all those who have worked so hard to provide information, time and resources to help us to meet our targets and objectives.  Some of the highlights are as follows:

EAST National Members - badgeWe held National Member meetings in Stockholm in February (our 38th Meeting co-hosted by Bankomat AB and the Pan-Nordic Card Association), in The Hague in June (our 39th Meeting hosted by Europol) and in Bucharest in October (our 40th Meeting hosted by the Romanian Banking Association – ARB).  In January The Polish Bank Association (ZBP) joined EAST as the new National Member for Poland, taking over from Bank Zachodni WBK.
The EAST Expert Group on ATM Fraud - Logo

The EAST Expert Group on ATM Fraud (EGAF), chaired by Otto de Jong, held three meetings in January, May and September, all hosted by ING in Amsterdam.  EGAF members assisted Europol to translate the co-produced document ‘Guidance & recommendations regarding logical attacks on ATMs’ into German, Italian and Spanish.

The EAST Expert Group on ATM Physical Attacks - LogoThe EAST Expert Group on ATM Physical Attacks (EGAP), chaired by Graham Mott, held two meetings in March and September, both hosted by the LINK Scheme in London.  In February EGAP published a document entitled ‘ATM Physical Security Guidelines’ and in October a document with lists of the Manufacturers of ATM Protective devices.

The EAST Payments Task Force (EPTF), chaired by Rui Carvalho, continues to come together.  EAST has expanded its remit beyond ATMs to include all terminal types and the EAST focus is increasingly moving to Card Not Present (CNP) fraud issues which continue to rise.  A series of teleconferences have been held and the first face-to-face meeting is planned for 2017.

In March EAST supported Europol and represented the private sector at the Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud (PCF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I participated in this two day meeting which was co-organised with ASEANAPOL, with the cooperation of INTERPOL and the support of the Romanian National Police and the Royal Malaysian Police.

In May EAST joined forces with the Latin American Association of Operators Electronic Funds Transfer and Information Services (ATEFI) in order to further strengthen cross border cooperation in combating all types of payment crime including payment card fraud, hi-tech crime and ATM cyber and physical attacks.

In June Úna Dillon presented at the 2nd Europol Training Course on Payment Card Fraud Forensics and Investigations, which was held at the National Spanish Police Academy, Ávila, Spain, and at the 37th member meeting of the European Association of Payment Service Providers for Merchants (EPSM), which was held in Dublin, Ireland.

In August Rui Carvalho presented at the SAS Fraud & Security Intelligence Customer Connect event held in the USA at the SAS World Headquarters in Cary, North Carolina.    .

In December I presented on behalf of the private sector at the Third Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud (PCF) organised by Europol in Bangkok, Thailand.  The event was co-organised with ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL with the support of the Romanian National Police and the Royal Thai Police, and was hosted by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.

EAST continues to keep abreast of the latest fraud trends and crime information, publishing our European ATM Crime Reports and European Fraud Updates.  Our thanks go out to all the people and organisations that have shared information for the above, and for EAST ATM Fraud Alerts (49 sent out this year to date), and EAST ATM Physical Attack Alerts (3 sent out this year to date).

EAST Associate Members - badgeEAST Associate Membership continues to grow  both numerically and geographically.  We currently have 168 Associate Member organisations from 51 countries and territories. This membership category is open for worldwide application to all Banks, Law Enforcement (free membership available), and other approved ATM Stakeholder organisations

Lastly, registration is now open for our third Financial Crime and Security (FCS) Forum, EAST FCS 2017, which will be held on 8th/9th June 2017 in The Hague.  This event has an exciting new format which will include breakout sessions hosted by both EGAF and EGAP.  As I write early-bird registration discounts are still available.  It would be wonderful to meet you there.

On behalf of EAST, I would like to wish all readers a wonderful festive break and a very happy and fulfilling New Year.

Kind regards

Lachlan

Third Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud

3rd Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud

EAST presented at the Third Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud (PCF) at the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) in Bangkok, Thailand.

This event, which was organised by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) on 13-14 December 2016, provided the law enforcement community with a comprehensive overview of payment card issues such as compromising payment card data, skimming, ATM cashing out, e-commerce and airline frauds. The event, which was co-organised with ASEANAPOL and INTERPOL with the support of the Romanian National Police and the Royal Thai Police, was hosted by the ETDA (public organisation), and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.

Thirty law enforcement officers from four EU Member States (Austria, France, Greece, and Romania) and their ASEAN counterparts (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) participated in the two-day meeting. The private sector was represented by EAST, the Bank of Thailand, representatives from the Thai commercial banks and LiquidNexxus. The ThaiCERT – ETDA facilitated cooperation between the law enforcement community and the Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs).

EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn gave an overview of the European ATM Fraud situation and highlighted the issue of losses in the ASEAN region faced by European card issuers.

3rd Strategic PCF MeetingThe aim of the event was to discuss operational achievements in the area of combating cyber fraud and to agree on the steps to follow with regard to security of non-cash means of payment. It focused on the exchange of expertise in the area of prevention and combating ATM/POS fraud, data compromising, ATM malware, and eCommerce fraud. A specific action plan concerning further cross-regional cooperation between European and Asian law enforcement was devised, following recent successful operations between the two parties.

As a result of discussions at the event, and to strengthen inter-regional industry communication to combat terminal and payment security, EAST is in follow up communication with the banking sectors in Indonesia and Thailand.

In March 2016 EAST supported the Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud which was held at the Royal Malaysian Police College in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  The meeting was hosted by Europol, INTERPOL and ASEANOPOL with the financial support of the Romanian authorities.

In November 2015 EAST supported the First Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud which was held in the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) and was co-hosted by Europol and INTERPOL with the financial support of the Romanian authorities.

In October 2015 EAST participated in a two-day meeting in Bogota (Colombia) to discuss payment card fraud overseas and money withdrawals in Latin America.

Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud

Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card FraudEAST represented the private sector at the Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud (PCF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This event which was organised by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) on 22-23 March 2016, provided the law enforcement community with a comprehensive overview of the ATM fraud and its migration to Asia.  The event was co-organised with ASEANAPOL, with the cooperation of INTERPOL and the support of the Romanian National Police and the Royal Malaysian Police.

This two-day meeting brought together 25 law enforcement officers from EU Member States (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Romania and the UK) with their counterparts from the ASEANAPOL community (including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) to discuss cooperation in preventing and combating this type of crime.

Opening Ceremony 2EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn gave an overview of the European ATM Fraud situation and the problem caused by increasing losses in the ASEAN region.

The aim of the event was to increase awareness among experts about all types of non-cash means of payment, including card skimming, ATM malware, internet fraud and eCommerce fraud.  New and unreported modus operandi recently detected by different investigative units were shared between experts and cases involving European criminals active in Asia were discussed,  resulting in the elaboration of operational plans for coordinated actions in a close future.  

In November 2015 EAST supported the First Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud which was held in the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) and was co-hosted by Europol and INTERPOL with the financial support of the Romanian authorities.

In October 2015 EAST participated in a two-day meeting in Bogota (Colombia) to discuss payment card fraud overseas and money withdrawals in Latin America.