Hackers are targeting Italian art cities where they tamper with ATMs to steal all the money from tourists and unfortunate people, here's how to defend yourself
Tons of tourists choose Italian art cities every year to spend their vacations. Rome, Florence, Venice, Turin and so on. There are many Italian cities that attract visitors from all over the world. A flow so important that it also attracts cyber criminals.
According to an investigation of the Carabinieri of the Antifalsificazione Monetaria reported by the newspaper il Sole 24 Ore, a group of hackers decided to target tourists by tampering with the ATMs of the main Italian cities.Obviously, Italian ATM users would also be victims of the ATM scam, but they would be able to react faster and block the cloned cards. Foreign tourists would only learn of the theft after a few days and could report the incident when the criminals have already cleaned out their bank accounts. According to the first investigations behind the "rigged" ATMs there would be a criminal group from Eastern Europe and the phenomenon would be expanding even in small and medium-sized Italian cities with a high rate of interest in tourists. Fortunately, however, there are simple techniques to be put into practice to defend against this kind of fraud.
How ATM scams work
According to the first data reported by the Antifalsificazione Monetaria dei Carabinieri, ATM scams make hackers earn up to 150 thousand euros a week. To tamper with ATMs and clone credit and debit cards, cyber criminals can use several techniques. The main one is the skimmer, a card reader that is mounted directly on the ATM, at the slot where the card or ATM is inserted. Usually, a micro-camera is installed along with the skimmer, which allows recording the users while typing the secret code on the keypad. Alternatively, hackers can infect ATMs (in fact, real computers on which Windows 7 is usually installed) with ad hoc malware, which allows you to clone cards remotely.
How to defend yourself against tampered ATMs
To defend yourself against ATM scams, it is essential to be able to recognize a tampered ATM before using it. Fortunately, it is not as complicated as it might seem. In order to insert the skimmer, criminals have to make physical changes to the counter: check that there is no glue or mastic or simple scratches near the card reader. These are the classic signs of an attempt to install a skimmer. Moreover, it is better to withdraw only in the closed counters, for which the scanning of an ATM is required in order to access and withdraw: unlike the external ones, they are more controlled and more difficult to tamper with. Finally, if possible, avoid withdrawing from ATMs near monuments or areas of strong tourist interest: usually these are the ones most targeted by hackers.