C-store Retailers Receive ATM Anti-Skimming Guide

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., and ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Conexxus and the National ATM Council (NAC) issued a jointly developed ATM Skimming Detection & Deterrence Guide for U.S. convenience store operators. The guide was created to help c-stores and retail ATM providers continue to provide safe and secure in-store ATM transactions despite a heightened skimming risk.

Recent industry survey results from NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing, show that illegal skimming of card data has been virtually non-existent at U.S. retail ATMs for the past 20 years, as they are typically under constant live visual surveillance by store personnel and multiple store patrons. In contrast, ATMs on the exteriors of bank buildings or in standalone walk/drive-up bank ATM kiosks are unattended.

"Conexxus thanks NAC for working with us to develop the Guide. Our two organizations recognize the increased near term potential for card skimming at all point-of-sale/ATM terminals with U.S. EMV deployment, and we wanted to proactively address this threat here — as we have with fuel island payment security — and maintain a continued skimming-free environment for our ATM customers going forward," stated Gray Taylor, executive director of Conexxus. "Other countries migrating to chip cards have already experienced near term spikes in card fraud, as the window closes on use of fraudulently obtained magnetic-strip data. Our guide will help c-store personnel and retail ATM providers 'up their game' to protect customers' card data in advance of MasterCard's ATM-EMV liability shift this October."

EMV is an acronym for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the three companies that originally created the security standard. Under EMV liability shift deadlines, c-store retailers needed to upgrade their point-of-sale devices to accept chip-and-PIN cards as of Oct. 1. Similar liability shifts are set to take place on Oct. 1 of this year for ATM machines and Oct. 1 of next year for automated forecourt devices.

Conexxus and NAC will coordinate the distribution of the anti-skimming guide to their c-store owner and ATM provider member bases throughout the United States for immediate use in detecting and deterring card skimming at their c-store ATMs. The organizations will follow this release with a joint anti-skimming webinar on Sept. 15, and further education at the ATM Security Academy, part of this year's NAC 2016 Conference & Expo program that will take place Oct. 17-20 in Orlando.

"NAC is especially pleased to team with Conexxus in creating this new and valuable tool for America's convenience store owners and retail ATM operators to help protect our mutual customers' card information during the EMV transition," said Bruce Renard, executive director of NAC. "The guide is an excellent and concise hands-on resource, with user-friendly and practical information that c-store personnel and ATM providers can utilize in their daily operations as an added layer of protection for their customers' card information. Cardholder safety and security have always been a hallmark of retail ATMs and this guide will help make sure it stays that way."

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