Payments executives are starting to go public with concerns about a growing type of ATM fraud called the cash-out attack. Unlike the well-known, single-machine attack known as jackpotting, cash-out frauds allow criminals to gain access to multiple machines simultaneously at the network level. They then employ accomplices to visit these machines to draw out the cash.
“Once they gain control of the bank’s system, they need to monetize that access. Therein lies the ATM cash-out,” says Tia Ilori, senior director for fraud and breach investigations at Visa Inc. Ilori says Visa has detected cash-out attacks—some successful, some thwarted—at 97 financial institutions in the past year. Visa will not disclose how much has been stolen in these attacks.