With its global crime-fighting efforts, the FBI can monitor potential criminal activity in an effort to take preventive action. One of the many important industries that the agency can protect this way is the financial sector. Recent discoveries have already prompted the FBI to issue a warning to banks and financial institutions.

We have reason to believe a global-scale cyber crime is about to happen.

Specifically, this cyber crime targets ATMs, forcing what’s known as an “unlimited operation,” or “ATM cash payout scheme.” Essentially by combining malware infections at various banks with stolen card information onto magnetic stripe card blanks, thieves can bypass the usual account balance limits and daily withdrawal limits to steal millions of dollars through ATMs.

These kinds of attacks aren’t new, and law enforcement agencies have arrested many people for this specific category of crime. The real obstacle is that global crime syndicates can enable the theft of millions of dollars from ATMs before anyone notices what’s happening.

Many banks stock their ATMs with a fresh supply of cash for the weekend or a holiday since the bank won’t be open to help customers. The FBI has already warned that an attack could take place at times like these.

The FBI had some vital tips for banks concerning this possible incident.

While you can’t stop a global crime syndicate, there are a lot of things you can do to help:

1. Don’t panic – Your gut instinct might be to run to the bank and withdraw a lot of cash as a safety net, but that doesn’t help anything. It’s far more important to keep your head and continue with your everyday financial behaviors.
2. Monitor your accounts – After any kind of POS or data breach, consumers are urged to check their account statements. This time, we mean it! Checking your accounts right now—literally, right now—for any signs of suspicious behavior and then reporting that behavior to your bank could mean that your stolen card information (the one thieves transferred onto a blank magnetic stripe card) won’t work when a thief tries to use it. You could be one less card that gives them access to the bank’s money. So check your accounts and spread the word!
3. Report strange activity – Take immediate action if you find anything out of the ordinary in your account statements as this could indicate someone has been in your account. If someone accesses your account, they might copy it onto a blank card.

Again, one of the most important things you can do is not panic. As word spreads, there may be social media posts that end up spreading misinformation to a viral audience. Help others know fact from fiction when it comes to the impact of this crime.

To learn more, visit https://www.idtheftcenter.org/fbi-banks-cybercrime/

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