Westpac closes the net on ATM fraud

Wayne Beckley, head of cash and ATMs at Westpac expects the deployment of the 1600 nationwide ATMs to be complete by the end of 2008, according to a statement.

“We have been upgrading our ATMs at the rate of almost six per day to provide the broadest possible coverage and protection, not just for Westpac customers but for everyone who uses our ATMs,” he said.

According to Westpac’s spokesperson, David Lording, the roll-out is on schedule since its initial announcement in July last year.

The technology called ‘Jitter’, developed by global technology company NCR prevents fraudulent skimming devices from reading the information on the card’s magnetic strip while remaining undetectable.

Westpac claims the rate of ATM fraud has fallen to zero since installation began in July last year.

Gartner vice president and distinguished anaylst, Avivah Litan, said that ATM fraud was increasing globally, however major investment toward increasing security was also occuring.

“ATM security is well overdue, it’s the pot of gold for fraudsters. When you steal a credit card it’s much harder to turn it into cash."

However Avivah explained that retailer fraud like the recent hacking incident at US retailer TJX is proving to be more of a problem than ATM fraud.

“Skimming can only get as much traffic as is walking through that day. Retailers are attacked more than banks as they don’t have the tight securities.”