ATMs are giant boxes filled with cash that sit on every street corner. Of course crooks will try to gain access to the money inside, using everything from forklifts to explosives. Here’s one method that you my not have anticipated, though: some savvy crooks gained access to an ATM’s ports and connected a mobile phone to it, planning to make it spit out cash. [More]
atms
Thief’s Attempt To Blast ATM Open Literally Backfires
By 12.30.14
Recently here at Consumerist, we’ve reviewed some very unsuccessful ways to open up ATMs and get at the money inside. Smashing the machine with a forklift, for example, is not a useful method. Neither is pouring acid on it. Now we have a new addition to the list: you also cannot gain access to money inside a cash machine with an explosive. [More]
New Frontiers In ATM Skimmer Technology: Wiretapping
By 12.9.14
We have a morbid fascination with ATM skimmers here at Consumerist, as anyone with a bank account probably should. The technology has made a lot of progress, from molded overlays for card slots and PIN pads to invisible Bluetooth devices that beam payment information to the bad guys until their batteries die. Now there’s a new type of skimmer spotted on real ATMs, but impossible for customers to detect: wiretaps. [More]
Thief Steals Forklift, Tries To Break Into ATM With It
By 9.10.14
Some people would steal an industrial forklift from a construction site, and that would be the extent of their crimes. Forklifts are expensive, after all. Just sell the forklift and call it a (criminal) work day. Yet one criminal in Florida aspired to more. He or she apparently stole the forklift, then turned it to a greater purpose: stealing an ATM from a bank. [More]
Can ATM Operators Beat Skimmers By Simply Rotating Card Readers 90 Degrees?
By 8.1.14
For decades, we’ve been sliding our credit and debit cards into ATMs with the shorter side of the card entering the reader. All this while, ID thieves have been improving their card-skimming devices to fit this well-established mold. The skimmers have gotten smaller, sleeker, and smarter, to the point where even a trained eye might be fooled. So what’s the best way to upend all those years of hard work by the bad guys? According to ATM biggie Diebold, it’s just as simple as turning the reader 90 degrees. [More]
Criminals Stuff Macau ATMs With Malware, Extract Customers’ Money
By 5.30.14
Did you think that tiny Bluetooth ATM skimmers were a terrifying prospect? Two men in Macau are accused of using long strips that look like circuit boards to infect ATMs and digitally extract customers’ card numbers and PINs. [More]
Banks Turning To Interactive ATMs To Reconnect Customers With Tellers
By 4.21.14
Depositing a check, transferring funds between bank accounts and withdrawing cash used to entail a drive to the bank and sometimes a long wait in line to see a teller. Today, with the advent of mobile banking consumers rarely have to come face-to-face with another human being. But the newest development in banking aims to reconnect consumers with the teller, kind of. [More]
Man Keeps Asking ATM For More Money, It Obliges With $37K His Account Didn’t Have
By 4.4.14
In what I can only imagine is the most exciting thing to happen since the game room vending machine at the lodge where we held family reunions started spewing free candy, a man with only a few hundred bucks in his bank account was able to withdraw $37,000 from a very obliging ATM. [More]
Banks Warned About Massive ATM Frauds, Attacks On Websites
By 4.3.14
It’s hard to feel bad for the banking business, but financial institutions can take a huge hit when consumers are the victims of large-scale fraud or ID theft. Replacing debit and credit cards, issuing refunds, investigating sketchy transactions can all add up — and of course that cost ultimately gets passed on to customers. This is why federal regulators are putting banks on alert to be mindful of increasingly popular ATM fraud and to be prepared for attacks on their websites. [More]
New Malware Activated By Text Message Makes ATMs Start Spitting Cash
By 3.25.14
Let’s not pretend that the sight of an ATM spewing cash out of its mouth like it hit the oil can just a little too hard last night isn’t something we’ve all dreamed of, though knowing full well that we’d never steal in real life. But it’s far from a dream for cybercriminals who have figured out how to trigger malware infections that get ATMs to spit cash just by sending a text message. [More]
Only A Third Of Bank ATMs Using Windows XP Have Upgraded Ahead Of April 8 Deadline
By 3.14.14
Banks all over the world have known since 2007 that Microsoft would stop support for ATMs running Windows XP on April 8 of this year, but with that deadline looming, only one-third of those 2.2 million machines have upgraded their outdated software. [More]
Banks Still Running Windows XP On ATMs Get Reprieve, Kind Of
By 1.22.14
Some sort-of-good news for anyone still using Windows XP, including 95% of all ATMs in the world: Microsoft will still provide antimalware signatures for the operating system through July 15, 2015. That’s not the same as software patches, but does help consumer and business security programs identify malware on the system. The original end of support date of April 8, 2014 still stands. ATMs aren’t going to stop working or explode, but will be more vulnerable to malware and other badness. [Microsoft] [More]
Thieves Smash Chase Branch, Drive Off With Entire ATM
By 11.21.13
“Needless to say, you’re not going to be able to use this ATM this morning,” observed a TV reporter standing in front of the Orlando, Florida Chase branch where an automated teller machine was ripped from the building. No. No, you’re not. [More]
Is A “Cardless” ATM Any Better Or Faster Than What We’re Used To?
By 7.3.13
The idea sounds kind of neat — you go into an app on your smartphone, pre-order the amount of cash you’ll want to pick up from the ATM at a later point, then it’s waiting for you when you arrive. So-called cardless ATMs are being tested and some are touting the technology as the future of banking, but is it really that much of an improvement over the current system? [More]
Coming Soon: Withdraw Prepaid Debit Cards From The Nearest ATM
By 6.21.13
The automated teller machine is now ubiquitous and can perform most of the functions you would visit a bank branch for: withdrawing cash, transferring money, making deposits. One thing that has really never changed about ATMs is what they dispense. Cash is cash: untraceable, lightweight, and nobody charges you any fees to use it. How boring and unprofitable. [More]
Traveling This Summer? Be Mindful Of Your Bank’s Out-Of-Network ATM Fees
By 6.20.13
We’ve heard an unconfirmed rumor that some people like to travel during the summer months, which is great; you need to get out more, enjoy life. But amid all that enjoying of life, don’t forget that you might not be able to access an in-network ATM for your bank account and could end up saddled with a bunch of no-fun fees. [More]
Yes, It’s Possible To Steal $45M From ATMs Around The World In Just A Few Hours
By 5.10.13
There are your everyday ATM skimming schemes, and then there are global hacking operations that allegedly siphoned $45 million from ATMs around the globe in just a few hours. It’s kind of like a flash mob, said one former prosecutor, and the ease with which it was apparently carried out has got those in the security world a little bit nervous. [More]
Bank Of America Introduces ATMs With Live Remote Tellers On Video Screens
By 4.4.13
Instead of screaming in frustration at an unresponsive machine, Bank of America is introducing the potential for customer to interact with more than just a hunk of machinery by way of its new remote teller video ATMs. And this isn’t some weird computer-generated customer service tool, the ATM will have a live video link for certain transactions. [More]
