Watch that ATM card...

[FG Lurker]

Watch that ATM card...
Mainichi Daily News, May 19, 2005

In a bid to reduce the damage of theft using forged or stolen bank cash cards, Japan's banking industry is considering limiting automatic teller machine withdrawals to about 500,000 yen a day, it has been learned,

[...]

In March this year, the Japanese Bankers Association agreed in principal that compensation should be given to account holders in cases involving fraudulent withdrawals using forged cash cards.

In the case of losses resulting from stolen cards, a Financial Services Agency research team also proposed that as a rule, the account holder and financial institution should each cover 50 percent of the cost of damages.

(Full Story)

They should at least allow for longer code numbers -- and perhaps the minimum length should be increased.

Fingerprint ID would be an interesting idea, until the guys steeling cards start taking fingers too. (This happened in a carjacking in the US a while ago.)

Online banking is not mentioned here, but in the past if you lost your $$$ through online bank fraud you didn't get it back.

Gotta love Japanese banks!

[Caustic Saint]

And be careful you don't go and leave your card in the machine.


(Not that I know anybody who's done that....)

[FG Lurker]

And be careful you don't go and leave your card in the machine.


(Not that I know anybody who's done that....)

Ooops. Hope you got it back without trouble.

My message above kind of implies that the "online banking fraud" problem has been fixed...I don't think it has though.

[American Oyaji]

I once saw a machine where some customer hadn't exited their session.

I exited it for them, so I could use the machine.

[Russell]

Convenience store ATM heist sees ¥1.4 billion stolen in two hours across Japan

Police are investigating a case of international credit card fraud in which about ¥1.44 billion was illegally withdrawn with forged credit cards from 1,400 automated teller machines in convenience stores around the country, according to investigative sources.

Police suspect that a group of more than 100 people extracted the money from the ATMs, which were located in Tokyo and 16 prefectures, over a period of about 2½ hours on May 15.

Since the cards were forged based on data leaked about credit cards issued by a bank in South Africa, police believe that an international criminal organization is involved. They are therefore planning to cooperate with overseas investigative organizations.

According to the sources, the ATMs are in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka, Fukuoka and other prefectures. May 15 was a Sunday and all the money was withdrawn over a period from a little past 5 a.m. to shortly before 8 a.m.

Each transaction involved the removal of ¥100,000, the maximum withdrawal limit set for ATMs, and there were more than 14,000 transactions in the case.

The fraud came to light following a report from a bank that installed some of the ATMs.

After examining records of the ATM transactions, it was found that data related to about 1,600 credit cards issued by the South African bank were used. It is highly likely that the suspects abused the cashing function of the credit cards after forging the cards based on card data illegally obtained by hacking or other methods.

Police believe the suspects attempted to delay the revelation of the crime by withdrawing the money outside the nation where the cards were issued. They suspect the more than 100 perpetrators were in close contact with each other.

Police intend to identify the suspects by analyzing the images recorded by security cameras. They also plan to examine how the credit card data was leaked, in cooperation with the South African authorities via Interpol.

Experts have indicated the presence of international criminal organizations since similar cases have been reported in many other countries in recent years. In those cases too, cash was fraudulently withdrawn from ATMs with credit cards forged with leaked card data.

One of the cases came to light after a total of about ¥4.5 billion was illegally withdrawn from ATMs in 26 countries from 2012 to 2013 with forged bank cards, including cards issued from a bank in Oman. In that case, part of the cash was withdrawn from ATMs in Tokyo. The Metropolitan Police Department has placed the suspects, including a Romanian man, on an international wanted list.

More

The Japan Times speaks about a Malaysian group, rather than a Romanian man, on its wanted list.

[Takechanpoo]

so far 3 guys were arrested in relation to the heist. all of them are japanese. they are called "出し子(withdrawer)"
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ663RD3J66UTIL00S.html
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ505GYYJ50OIPE019.html

[kurogane]

..............

Ooook. Sorry, but just to ease my worried mind do I need to worry about being a victim of fraud when using my Cdn ATM card? I assume not, yes?

This new lower withdrawal limit SJ mentioned Over There is going to be a major PITA. BTW< did anybody else wonder if the suspected International Criminal Syndicate is spelt Y-A-K-O-O-Z-A?

[wagyl]

just to ease my worried mind

Seeing as this last case was multiple cards cloned, all relating to the one South African bank, I presume that the data leak was from the bank, not from individual cards. I am just basing that on the information as reported, and garbage in = garbage out, so you may obtain more kilometres from that litre of fuel than other people.

[kurogane]

Yeah, I thought so too, but being technotarded it's nice to get a reassuring pat on the bum. Thanks. I have never, ever had problems with untoward transactions being posted after Jpn ATM WDs, and like you noted, this is a fraud against the banks. Which I like but now we'll pay in conveniences lost I imagine.