Japan an alluring target for Standard Bank ATM thieves

I wonder if this is going to be used to reduce the maximum withdrawal amount at ATMS?

Doubt it, most likely different limits for local and international withdrawals.

“They found a badly protected ATM network in a low-risk country, guessing that the fraud analytics software would not automatically block the transactions.”

It is credit card companies (card issuing banks), not the ATM companies, that employs fraud detection software. Or, do ATMs stop paying even when card-issuing banks authorize the payment, these days?

Standard Bank is supposed to be one of the more tech savvy south African banks. How did these crooks get hold of the credit card numbers and pins?

more secure “chip and pin” system

This is secure if the IC card in question has a anti theft blocking sleeve otherwise anyone with a IC card reader/writer can get at the information and copy it.

This is secure if the IC card in question has a anti theft blocking sleeve otherwise anyone with a IC card reader/writer can get at the information and copy it.

The data is encrypted, so copying it won't do them much good.

who actually got stolen and lost the monies? japan banks? south africa banks? south african carholders that had their cards duplicated?

There is only one group that can organize a fraud like this....

“They found a badly protected ATM network in a low-risk country, guessing that the fraud analytics software would not automatically block the transactions.”

Experts said both banks should shoulder some blame for failing to monitor the flood of transactions, saying they should have had systems in place to catch spikes in unusual activity in so many locations at the same time during what would usually be a quiet period.

I wondered here before:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/y1-4-bil-stolen-from-1400-convenience-store-atms-across-japan#comment_2200571

The systems should had detected that something anomaly was going on when so much monies are being withdrawn at so many different transactions at so short a time

Guess that answers that

(my cards instantly send me a notice if there's unusual activity and asks if that was my doing)

who actually got stolen and lost the monies? japan banks? south africa banks? south african carholders that had their cards duplicated?

Article states:

"South Africa’s Standard Bank said on Monday it had suffered the losses, not its customers, and that it had alerted the authorities. It estimated its total loss at 300 million rand ($19 million).

whoah. Can we back up a second. 78 atm transactions in per minute for 3 hours and that didn't ring any bells.

My credit card has better fraud protection than that, you are telling me the ENTIRE 7-11 banking system doesnt have any thing to detect suspect activity (like 78 transactions a minute from multiple locations all pulling money out from SA)

7-11 has. 22000 ATM's plus online banking, to check every transaction x combination s will only be triggered if a transaction is flagged. Now 22.000 ATM easily do 78 transactions easily during peak hours.

Next time it might be transactions targeting another bank in other countries. Too many possible combinations to check everything.

ATM's and Banks can-t tell who uses the card not an original from a faked one as they deal with data streams only.

As i stated in my above post, this is a easy way for the gov to decrease withdrawal amounts which will be helpful for them in the forth coming "bank runs" in my opinion the Yen will be the first to go.

I knew they did it by exploiting some Japanese flaws @ that convenient store ATMs, it was so obvious, let me guess, to cut the network cost and server load, probably that atm machine has a buffer and report transaction every hour or maybe more so each machines are not aware of what is happening until all transaction are uploaded.

ATM's and Banks can-t tell who uses the card not an original from a faked one as they deal with data streams only.

Data streams is all ya need. Our net analytics could tell if there's something unusual in the network to alert us. Good analytics could be quite smart

Now 22.000 ATM easily do 78 transactions easily during peak hours.

78 transactions per minute with South African issued visa cards withdrawing 100,000Y at a time? That certainly has never happened in the history of ATM banking in Japan.

How is it possible that not a single 7-11 employee didn't notice one of these mules making multiple withdrawls of that much cash in their stores?

How is it possible that not a single 7-11 employee didn't notice one of these mules making multiple withdrawls of that much cash in their stores?

Where does it say they were doing multiple withdrawls? And what exactly is the staff supposed to notice? And what exactly are they supposed to say even if they do notice?

Where does it say they were doing multiple withdrawls?

Pretty simple math really. 1,400 ATM and 14,000 transactions so approximately 10 withdrawls per ATM.

And what exactly is the staff supposed to notice?

Someone stuffing 1,000,000Y into their pockets.

And what exactly are they supposed to say even if they do notice?

Inform the police that they just witnessed some very suspicious behaviour at an ATM in their store.

If all of these transactions happened at 7-11 stores (as the article suggests) and since there are usually 2-3 employees working at the stores at any given time, we're talking about 2,800 - 4,200 employees who could have alerted the authorities.

Pretty simple math really. 1,400 ATM and 14,000 transactions so approximately 10 withdrawls per ATM.

Good point. I stand corrected.

Someone stuffing 1,000,000Y into their pockets.

It's bad manners to stare at someone using the ATM. And people have the right to use them, even to take out a million yen. It's up to the ATM to provide the security, not the staff.

Inform the police that they just witnessed some very suspicious behaviour at an ATM in their store.

If I were working at a store and saw someone taking out a significant amount of money at that time of night, I would think 'I wonder what drugs this guy is doing' or 'I wonder what girl this guy has that needs this much money'. I don't suspect I'd think the person was doing a robbery, because the ATM should stop them if they were.

7-11 Near my place has 3 ATM's in a separate room outside of the store. Unless someone was staring at the security footage, they wouldnt know who is taking out money from them.

In fact i bet they chose the 7-11's specifically that had those sorts of arrangements, or ATMs out of sight of the cash registers

Most 7-11 ATM are usually placed far from the entrance and out of the view of the staff and customers entering and leaving the stores, usually near the rest room and magazine stand. The footage on TV yesterday shoed one mule who took 32 minutes to withdraw money from one ATM and even had time to count the money and arrange the receipts. If that Machine was located near the entrance or in full view of the staffs they guy won't have been able to spend that long thus withdraw that much from that particular ATM. Conbinis have several cameras both at the entrance and inside the store that take pics of those entering and leaving the store how come none of the mules has been identified from a camera shot, I am sure they were wearing a mask and a cap but with todays technology they would be easily identified. I think it is high time, the use of mask inside the bank or infront of an ATM should be banned.

Want to bet that the solution will be that credit cards issued abroad will no longer be accepted by ATMs anywhere in Japan? Never mind the inconvenience such a solution will cause during the Tokyo Olympics...

I think 7 11 ATM uses “chip and pin” system not magnetic stripes.

I think 7 11 ATM uses “chip and pin” system not magnetic stripes.

They'll accept both, like most bank ATMs in Japan. I have two cards to my bank, one given by my company. One has the chip and one is magnetic strip, and they both work fine at all ATMs.

Through a scanner darkly, I can already see as we move closer and closer to 2020, the focus of newspaper headlines and sundry wide shows shift towards sensationalist reporting about how foreign criminals are descending on Japan en masse, and how poor innocent locals, veritable lambs to the slaughter are surviving the onslaught. Never mind that the real criminals, the big end of town movers and shakers of the business world and the hired Nagatacho elites who do their bidding, continue to get away with blue murder.