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18 October 2005
A banking association has told the Observer that consumers will still be subject to card fraud, despite the introduction of chip and pin.
The new system has meant that consumers can verify transactions using a pin number instead of a signature. Whilst this has been linked to a fall in the amount of card fraud, Apacs has said that cards are still vulnerable to fraud at cash machines.
Skimming takes place at ATMs which have been fitted with a device that reads the magnetic strip of a card as it is placed into a machine. The pin can be recorded with a camera. Most ATMs still rely on the magnetic strip and so skimming is still possible.
Sandra Quinn of Apacs told the newspaper: "There is no specific date when ATMs will switch from reading the magnetic strip to the chip.
"Some banks already have ATMs which are reading chips at certain times of the day and throughout next year some banks will switch to all chip-reading machines. But this is a bank-by-bank decision and there is no industry-wide date for it to happen."
The news comes after five individuals were sentenced in a Kent court after admitting to using skimming equipment to steal card details, the Kent Messenger reported.
The gang, who were residing in Britain illegally, were serve sentences of between 30 and 32 months, and will be deported to Romania on their completion.
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