In an article written for Australian PC Authority, Daniel Long talks about the recent rash of card skimming incidents over there. 

Credit card fraud costs Australia $120m, but there are ways to protect yourself

Card skimming and online fraudsters are costing Australians over $120m a year, but there is hope say experts. We've got some tips on how to navigate your local ATM and what to look out for.

According to a new white paper by information security specialist Steve Darrall of CQR Consulting, Australia is experiencing something of a credit card fraud epidemic.

In recent months, ATM machines have been blown sky high, card skimming machines have grown increasingly more prevalent in our suburbs and credit card fraud, online and offline is at an all-time high.

The white paper claims that card skimming alone now costs Australians more than $49m a year, and that's just in 2008. In all, total credit fraud made up around $120m from two main groups:

- Counterfeit cards and card skimming ($49m)
- Card not present fraud (CNP) concerns your mail, telephone, fax and internet transactions. ($71m) 

Two banking security initiatives have been offered by CQR as a better way of protecting against credit card frauds and they hope that the wider adoption of these measures can help the banks/card companies better protect consumers:

1. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS):
Developed by the major credit card brands, this standard applies to all organizations that store, process or transmit cardholder payment data, regardless of size or transaction numbers.

2. Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS).
This standard applies to software applications designed to store, process or transmit payment card information.

Mr Darrall believes that what's holding back the mass adoption of these standards are costs and mindset of the merchants. Darrall told PC Authority that while the banks are very interested in adopting these standards, merchants have not been so crash hot about the idea. Furthermore, this isn't an area for complacency. Even with the introduction of more advanced chip and PIN cards, "this isn't the magic bullet" we might be hoping for, but a step in the right direction says Mr Darrall.

The card skimming problem

Even with the growth of online fraud and banking phishing schemes, physical card skimming is a growing problem. Physical card skimming uses electronic equipment to steal your PIN at the ATM. And it can be much harder for customers to detect.

ATM
skimming is getting so high tech that some gangs are resorting to using
Bluetooth and fake keyboards to 'catch' your PIN when you enter it, so
holding your hand over the keyboard will make little difference in this
case.

But according to Mr Darrall, there are techniques you can use to minimize your risk.  (Continue Reading)

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