QUEENSLANDERS have been hit for the first time by a sophisticated automatic teller machine scam which the banks have so far proved almost powerless to combat.
Police have warned that the latest scam detected in Brisbane would be just the first of many hi-tech attempts to empty consumers' bank accounts.
The scam works by attaching an electronic device to the ATM slot which "reads" a customer's debit card details, and electronically copies those banking details for later use.
The scammers typically peered over consumers' shoulders or "shoulder surfed" to obtain PINs, although more sophisticated systems can include a pinhole camera or fake keypad.
The data is later encoded into a blank card which is used to siphon money from unsuspecting customers' accounts.
Queensland Police were alerted to the scam on February 21 after a man noticed and removed a device attached to a Suncorp ATM in the Myer Centre and was quickly accosted by three men who stole the device back.
Detective Acting Inspector Graham Clark, from the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group, warned the Myer Centre incident was unlikely to be a one-off.
"It's been utilised interstate but it's the first recorded incidence in Queensland of card-skimming," he said. "The way the technology is, and is becoming available, I think we will see more of it in the future."
Insp Clark said this particular attempt to skim debit cards appeared to have been amateurish as the device was stuck to the machine's card slot with double-sided sticky tape.
He said sophisticated debit card scams were difficult to identify and, if the scames were executed successfully, consumers would only know they had been fleeced when "something irregular appears on (their bank) statement".
A Suncorp spokesman said no customers had money stolen from their accounts as a result of the scam, and people who had used the ATM had been contacted and offered new debit cards.
Australian Bankers Association chief executive David Bell said customers would not be held liable for "losses resulting from unauthorised transactions, where it is clear the customer has not contributed to the loss".
But QUT electronic business law senior researcher Adrian McCullagh said the incident was likely to be the first of many ATM skimming scams, which could cost the community millions of dollars once skimming devices became more commonly available.
"If something's not done now, in four years' time it will be a major, major problem," he said. "Once it starts in one area, you will then see there is going to be an ever-increasing incidence of these types of criminal activity."
Dr McCullagh said banks could move to stop the theft by introducing "smartcards" with a computer chip recognised in ATMs, but were reluctant to do so while it cost less to reimburse consumers' losses.
He said the top six banks made a profit of $11 billion in 2004, and could roll out smartcards over two financial years at a cost of $700 million, or just 3 per cent a year.
"Doing a cost-benefit analysis, it probably doesn't really make sense for them yet," Dr McCullagh said. "But the problem with that is that it is the poor customer who gets hit with these illegal transactions and has to establish to the bank's satisfaction that the transaction was illegal."
RMIT information security program leader Dr Asha Rao said banks were likely to suffer more significant card-skimming losses in future, though, as "organised crime gangs" took over from "kids with too much time on their hands".
She said ATMs with card-skimming devices attached often looked no different to ordinary ATMs, but consumers should pay particular attention to the machine's card slot and monitor their bank statements for irregularities.
Police are seeking two men of eastern European appearance and a caucasian man with a goatee beard in connection with the skimming attempt.
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