U.S. ATM Fraud Climbed 10% in 2017 — Is That Good?

As FICO reported today, there was a 10% increase in the number of payment cards compromised at U.S. ATMs and merchants in 2017.

by TJ Horan

Vice President, Product Management

March 7, 2018

As FICO reported today, there was a 10% increase in the number of payment cards compromised at U.S. ATMs and merchants in 2017. The number of compromised card readers at U.S. ATMs, restaurants and merchants rose 8%.

On the face of it, there’s nothing to celebrate in this ATM fraud data from our FICO^® Card Alert Service, which monitors hundreds of thousands of ATMs and other readers in the US. In fact, it’s a new record, and not the kind you want to set.

But the growth curve in ATM fraud is flattening out. In 2015, the number of compromises jumped more than 500%. In 2016, that growth was 70%. Compared to these numbers, the 10% rise suggests we’re getting the problem under control, despite hacking devices being made cheaper and more readily available.

We’re also getting better at managing compromises when they do occur, thanks to tools like FICO^® Card Compromise Manager, which proactively detects and prioritizes compromised merchants and data breaches, automatically alerting fraud teams of all payment cards that are part of a compromise. This is really a handy tool to have to proactively protect your customers’ accounts before fraud occurs.

Protecting Customers from ATM Fraud

Our tips for consumers haven’t changed, but they’re worth repeating:

If an ATM looks odd, or your card doesn’t enter the machine smoothly, consider going somewhere else for your cash.
Never approach an ATM if anyone is lingering nearby. Never engage in conversations with others around an ATM. Remain in your automobile until other ATM users have left the ATM.
If your plastic card is captured inside of an ATM, call your card issuer immediately to report it. Sometimes you may think that your card was captured by the ATM when in reality it was later retrieved by a criminal who staged its capture. Either way, you will need to arrange for a replacement card as soon as possible.
Ask your card issuer for a new card number if you suspect that your payment card may have been compromised at a merchant, restaurant or ATM. It’s important to change both your card number and your PIN whenever you experience a potential theft of your personal information.
Check your card transactions frequently, using online banking and your monthly statement.
Ask your card provider if they offer account alert technology that will deliver SMS text communications or emails to you in the event that fraudulent activity is suspected on your payment card.
Update your address and cell phone information for every card you have, so that you can be reached if there is ever a critical situation that requires your immediate attention.

I should note that most devices are safe, and it’s a small fraction of them that are compromised. But it pays to be cautious, because it’s getting harder to tell which ones are — gone are the days when you could just eyeball a device and tell if it was corrupted.

Follow me on Twitter @FraudBird.

TJ Horan

TJ Horan is vice president of Product Management at FICO, leading the Solution Product Management team for Lifecycle Products. TJ began his career with DuPont, where he helped design and maintain Expert Systems for process control. Since then, TJ has held a variety of technical and management roles in the fields of analytics, fraud and risk management, and decision management at industry leading companies such as HNC Software and SAS. TJ holds a B.S. in computer science and a M.S. in statistics, both from the University of South Carolina.

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FICO® Score High Achievers: Is Age the Only Factor?

FICO’s latest research on <a href="http://www.fico.com/en/blogs/risk-compliance/us-credit-quality-rising-the-beat-goes-on/" target="_blank">national FICO® Score distribution</a> shows that US credit quality continues to trend upwards, with an increasing number of consumers scoring in the highest scores ranges. Given that, we decided it was time to refresh our study on “<a href="http://www.fico.com/en/blogs/risk-compliance/infographic-what-does-a-high-credit-scorer-look-like/" target="_blank">FICO® Score high achievers</a>,” where we examine the credit behavioural profiles of consumers with higher credit scores. As expected, our latest study showed that older people generally have higher scores, as has been the case in our <a href="http://www.fico.com/en/blogs/risk-compliance/age-before-beauty-credit-worthiness-before-youth/" target="_blank">past research</a>. This is largely because they have trade lines that have been open longer, which leads to higher scores (assuming the trade lines are in good standing and all other things equal). The most credit savvy among you will remember that length of credit history accounts for roughly 15% of the overall <a href="http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/WhatsInYourScore.aspx" target="_blank">FICO® Score calculation</a>. But for younger consumers, it isn’t too helpful to say, “just wait until you are 50 years old, and that will fix things!” Thus, I decided to dive deeper with our analysis, including looking at the credit behavioural characteristics of younger consumers with high FICO® Scores. In this analysis, I looked at credit characteristics for the two highest score bands, 750-799 and 800-850, which have about 16% and 23% of the population, respectively. I further broke this down by looking at the characteristics of the youngest 15% in each group, which occurs at age 29 for the 750-799 group and 43 for the 800-850. We used FICO® Score 9 for our analysis, and examined typical variables of the categories that go into the make-up of the score. <a href="http://www.fico.com/en/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/FICO-Score-High-Achiever-table.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-29367" src="http://www.fico.com/en/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/FICO-Score-High-Achiever-table.png" alt="fico-score-high-achiever-table" width="715" height="747" /></a> Since there’s a lot to dissect in this chart, I’ll highlight a few findings that struck me: <ul> <li>Credit history. Higher scores are undoubtedly associated with a longer time on file. What’s striking is the higher average time on file for the 800+ group, both overall and for revolving accounts (the most common trade line). Clearly, it helps to start credit use early in life – but that’s not the sole determining factor for high scoring. The younger cohorts in both the 800+ and 750-799 groups have time on file medians significantly less than their older counterparts.</li> <li>New credit. High credit scorers do, in fact, pursue new credit. We see little variation in months since last trade line opening and last inquiry among all groups observed.</li> <li>Pay on time. As you might expect, the further in the past the delinquency, the higher the score – and that’s if a delinquency ever happened. 95% of the 800+ people and 72% of the 750-799 group have never been delinquent, which is a striking contrast to the 57% for the total population. The percentages for the younger groups are even higher, especially so for the 750-799ers. Collection items are also scarce for these high scorers. While 23% of the national population have collection items greater than $99, the figures are only 0.5% for the 800+ group and 3% for the 750-799 group. It is clear that, in conjunction with starting a credit file early, paying on time is a key trait of the FICO® Score high achiever.</li> <li>Balance and utilization. Finally, we look at how credit is being used, focusing on revolving product use. (Since most people only have one mortgage or one auto loan, variation in instalment product figures is minimal and driven by payment history, which is near perfect for high scorers, as we’ve seen.) FICO® Score high achievers tend to have more open revolving accounts. While the % active trades and utilization are generally lower, by no means do high scorers avoid the use of credit products. What drives the difference here is the amount of available revolving credit utilized. The 800+ group is roughly 1/4 of the national median, both in total and on their highest utilized card; they also have lower balances and more cards. The 750-799 group is more active and higher utilized, but still only at 2/3 of the national figures. The young 750-799 group compensate with lower revolving balances and, as a result, lower utilization, which is in line with what we see for the 800+ group.</li> <li>Benchmarks. I’d like to point out that while this study provides good benchmarks of the typical credit traits of the FICO® Score high achiever, individual credit profiles will vary widely. And keep in mind that when we sort groups of consumers as a whole by different behaviours, some results may look superficially odd. For example, the 800+ band has a longer median average open account time (128 months) than average revolving months on file (140 months).</li> </ul> So, what do we conclude? A huge takeaway is that high scorers don’t have too much in the way of serious delinquencies and negative public record data. In most respects, the young 800+ people are like their peer group. They really only differ markedly in their shorter credit history and higher non-mortgage balance, both of which are a function of life stage. Our results show that you don’t have to be a credit product hermit; these high scorers have more credit cards. The takeaway is to start credit activity early and maintain well-managed and moderate usage. In many ways, the young 750-799 people are more interesting because their age profile is much younger. Their credit characteristics differ more from their peer group, particularly in terms of length of credit history. They compensate by having almost pristine credit records and lower balances. Ultimately, 39% of US consumers are FICO® Score high achievers, which they accomplish by following common-sense credit practices. It ain’t rocket science!

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