Follow these tips to stay safe when withdrawing cash abroad
Holidaymakers have been warned about the dangers posed by ATM scammers looking to steal their bank details.
Scammers can use a range of methods to obtain your data, but holidaymakers are particularly vulnerable to card skimming when using cash machines abroad.
New research by NordVPN found data from more than six million payment cards for sale on the dark web. Worryingly, 51% of cards included home addresses and 40% included email addresses. Around 164,000 cards belonged to UK victims.
Read on for advice on how card skimming works and how to spot a dodgy ATM.
Scammers install card skimmers on cash machines to steal banking information from victims. A skimmer is a small device that stores the details from a bank card’s magnetic strip – including the card number, expiration date and the name of the account holder. These devices allow scammers to quickly access large amounts of data.
Once the device has been removed, the information can be sold on the dark web, cloned to create fake cards or used to make fraudulent purchases.
Fraudsters may also try to steal your data at an ATM in the following ways:
Holidaymakers are particularly vulnerable to skimming as they won’t always know exactly what a card machine should look like in a different country. Follow these tips to stay safe when withdrawing cash:
Advice on spending money abroad:
NordVPN also recommends taking the following steps to protect yourself while on holiday: