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| Some time ago a whopping Rs 4.5 lakh was looted from the ATM of a well known bank in Hyderabad.
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| The fact that the criminal was able to get inside the ATM enclosure through a ventilator and that he knew the combination number for the ATM cash vault speaks a lot about the present state of security awareness in banks.
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| ATM crimes thrive and flourish in countries where ATMs dominate the lifestyles of citizens. In India we have hardly entered the ATM era. Even so, the signs of ATM crimes are evident.
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| Apart from the burglary in Hyderabad, ATM users in Chennai were recently swindled to the tune of Rs 7.5. lakh by the use of forged cards.
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| A businessman in Pune, a music shopkeeper and a film personality in Chennai were kidnapped and forced to withdraw money from ATMs. A customer's card was swallowed by the ATM after a time out operation in Hyderabad. The next day an unauthorised withdrawal of Rs 5,100 was made from her account.
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| The ATM population will only expand and, along with this, the number of crimes. Precise figures on the ATM population are not readily available but as early as 1999, US ATM maker Diebold predicted that the ATM market in India would jump seven-fold.
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| Still, what has happened so far in India is peanuts compared with what is happening the world over. Crimes are taking place all over the globe on a large scale and the police are battling organised gangs which capture PIN codes and magnetic stripe data, inflicting losses running to millions of dollars on banks and their customers.
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| Criminals use several ways of stealing from ATMs. Take, for example, phantom withdrawals -- ATM debit entries that baffle both bank officials and detectives.
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| Large sums of money vanish from accounts in spite of the customer not using the ATM, keeping the card secure and keeping the PIN confidential.
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| How does the money vanish? By capturing the ATM card through a Lebonese loop inserted into the card slot or through the 'skimming' method where criminals fix tiny spy cameras and magnetic devices on the ATM, which transmit the magnetic stripe data and the PIN information to recording equipment placed in a car nearby.
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| In the 'social engineering' method, the criminal presents himself as a police officer, bank employee or some other responsible person and coaxes the card details out of the victim through one tale or another.
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| A variant of this method is to send email messages to ATM users in a format that exactly resembles the bank's letterhead convincing them that they should send their credit card numbers and PIN codes to a web site. Customers of Citibank, ANZ, Barclays Bank and America Online were targets of this scam.
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| Then, there's violence. Overseas, violence is common and almost every second day an incident is reported. These incidents occur mostly at night.
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| Criminals ambush the ATM user while he is withdrawing money or kidnap him while he stops the car near an ATM. Sometimes, they burgle a house and then take the owner to an ATM and force him to withdraw cash.
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| Those who do not have the patience for clever and cunning methods opt for a direct attack on the ATM. They use drills, heavy hammers or welding equipment for opening a hole in the ATM and reach out for the cash.
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| Strongly built ATMs are pulled out with a lorry or heavy construction equipment and taken away. The phenomenon is most common in Japan and the US.
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| At the international level, ATM crime is viewed with great concern. Organisations like the ATM Industries Association (ATMIA), South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS), the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) are working at the international level on consolidating forces to fight ATM crimes.
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| We in India need to take a cue from this and promote activities to develop efficient security procedures and best practices for ATMs so that ATM crime is nipped in the bud.
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| For protecting the banks and the public from ATM crimes, the Reserve Bank of India, the Indian Bankers Association, the police, internal auditors and security professionals should come together on a common platform and search for a solution.
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| In the ultimate analysis, there is a desperate need for greater security measures for ATMs in our country.
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| T S Subramaniyan is a security professional and a chartered accountant |
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