Thousands hit by card fraud

ATM HACK: The card details of potentially thousands of residents have been stolen by a gang of fraudsters. Picture for illustrative purposes only. (Getty Images)

The card details of potentially thousands of UAE residents have been stolen by a gang of fraudsters who hacked into a bank's ATM machine, the central bank said in a statement on its website.

The central bank said it had provided lenders with a list of ATM cards used on the machine and advised all banks to block the affected cards immediately and either replace them or have users change their pin number.

The bank also advised lenders to check all their ATMs to make sure they had not been tampered with and there were no traces of an electronic reader, commonly known as a skimming machines.

The fraud took place between February 19 and 25. The fraudsters used a electronic reader to copy the data of all the cards used in the ATM and installed a small video camera to get users' pin numbers, the central bank said.

The statement, posted on the central bank's website on February 28, did not name the lender or the location of its ATM.

It is not known whether the gang has been caught, how much money had been stolen or the exact number of people affected.

ArabianBusiness.com tried to contact the central bank for further details but no one was available for comment.

Skimming attacks normally involve the placement of a fake card reader over the regular card reader in an ATM, which reads and records the data from the card's magnetic strip, while either a hidden camera or a nearby observer, known as a ‘shoulder surfer', steals the PIN.

The stolen details can then be used to create fake cards or make purchases online, or the data may be sold on to other gangs of fraudsters.

Skimming fraud has been seen in most regions of the world, and banks usually take measures to protect machines, such as installing plastic guards to prevent the installation of illicit card readers, camera monitoring of ATMs and regular inspections of machines.

Most skimming attempts now either target high usage ATMs for a very short period of time to steal the maximum number of card details in a short amount of time, or machines in out-of-the-way locations where the reader will not be detected as quickly.

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READERS' COMMENTS

ATM Fraud
Posted by Abi, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 5 March 2008 at 12:51 UAE time

Seriously what happened to the freedom of information and the right of people to know which bank is unable to provide adequate security. Come on central bank, give up the bank's name and location of ATM instead of the entire nation wondering in perpetuity.

Irresponsible
Posted by Walid on Wednesday 5 March 2008 at 11:08 UAE time

There is one ATM here in DIC where you can see the network cable coming out of the ATM Machine, and even unplug it if you like....

This is really irresponsible from the lender and also the people who are checking this ATM.

Irresponsible action
Posted by BASSAM, DUBAI, UAE on Tuesday 4 March 2008 at 10:50 UAE time


This is totally irresponsible action from the central bank, and If the central bank will not inform the affected bank and the ATM users then they are spreading panic all over UAE , therefore ALL the users will go to check their accounts by using their ATM cards, and maybe there are another skimming attempts are already fixed out their in undiscovered machines therefore it’ll be a golden chance to the gang to have what they want in a very short period of time, isn’t this will make the central bank as a partner in this fraud??!!! Come, on Reveal the information

A T M fraud
Posted by Ramchandran Payyoor, sharjah, u a e on Tuesday 4 March 2008 at 10:30 UAE time


Banks are responsible for the safety of its customers. If customers are cheated because of lack of security - to be provided by Bank - they should be compensated by the Banks

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