EMV compliance will reduce plastic card fraud

A 43 percent rise in ATM-related fraud losses was reported by the European ATM Security Team (EAST). The losses are attributed to non-EMV compliant ATM terminals around the world. EMV (abbreviation of Europay, MasterCard and Visa) compliance provides for authenticating credit/debit card payments and improved security.

As per report provided by EAST 78 percent of European ATMs are currently compliant with EMV standard. Most of the ATM-related fraud occurs in countries where the terminals have not been upgraded to the EMV standard. Criminals continue to hunt for the ATMs that are vulnerable to skimming.

"While the increased fraud loss figures are of great concern, EAST members continue to benefit from international cooperation within the industry and with international law enforcement and judicial organizations," EAST director and coordinator Lachlan Gunn stated, "International losses are anticipated to remain an issue for the industry until the vast majority of the world's ATMs become EMV compliant, and do not allow magstripe fallback."