SEVERAL clients of various banks in Slovakia have had money stolen from their accounts in recent days, with thieves using a method known as skimming, the TASR newswire reported on February 18. Skimming involves implanting special devices on cash machines which read data from credit/debit cards and transfer these, plus the customer’s PIN code, to the thieves.
Tatra Banka announced that 45 customers had had money stolen in this way, while ČSOB registered four such cases, VÚB Banka three and Slovenská Sporiteľňa two cases, the TVnoviny.sk website reported.
For now it remains unclear how many cash dispensers in Slovakia have been fitted with reading devices. Tatra Banka, VÚB Banka and Slovenská Sporiteľňa representatives have told TASR that the affected cash dispensers do not belong to their respective networks. ČSOB found that one of its ATMs had been rigged, however. All the banks announced that they were able to detect the illegally withdrawn money and that the affected clients’ money would be returned.
Certain banks have pre-emptively blocked access to accounts from so-called risk countries, i.e. countries where thieves have already accessed accounts using the method of skimming.
