The bank claims that the new solution is the first of its kind and it is supposed to reduce the chances of consumers falling victim to ‘cash trapping’ scams, which occur when fraudsters insert devices into a cashpoint that prevents it from giving the user’s cash when they take money out. Criminals make it appear as if the machine had simply gone out of service, however, the cash is then diverted and later the fraudsters come along and steal it.
HSBC has noticed that this kind of scam is on the rise in central London in particular, which is where it has been trialling the new tech before its nationwide roll out. According to an April 2019 European Association for Secure Transactions (EAST) report, ATM attacks rose by 27% in 2018 with losses, summing EUR 36 million (GBP 32 million). HSBCs software should detect if an ATM has been tampered with, thus allowing the bank to reverse any transactions and to investigate further. Currently, HSBC is rolling the software out at 1,000 of its ATMs throughout the UK.
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