ATMs make life easy. You can get cash in less than a minute from almost anywhere.
However, attacking ATMs is "more lucrative than drugs" according to Diebold's Chuck Somers, who summarizes the three major ATM threats for BankInfoSecurity.com:
- Physical, or stealing the cash from an ATM
- Logical, or the installation of malicious software, and
- Fraud, or using fake cards and stealing card details in skimming scams
The threat of getting your card skimmed is the greatest one and continues to increase -- scammers get easy access to cash, and the stakes are low if they get caught.
As skimming devices get harder and harder to detect, it's more and more important to bank at ATMs you trust. Machines at bank branches can be attacked, but they're less risky than machines out on the street. If you're cavalier about where you use the ATM, be sure that you regularly check your accounts for unusual activity.
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