UTS joins international design challenge to fight ATM card skimming

Minimising the risk of personal information being stolen at ATMs is at the centre of an international crime prevention collaboration.

The amount of card-skimming fraud fell last year thanks to new chip-card technology but research from the Australian Payments Clearance Association shows Australians still lost more than $37 million in the same year.

Now, a collaboration between the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), the University of the Arts, London (UAL) and Delft University in the Netherlands has devised some clever ways to thwart ATM scammers.

Infrared lights that disrupt keyhole cameras installed on ATMs by thieves and visual cues on the ground showing ATM customers where best to stand to shield their pin numbers are the new designs that have emerged from the collaboration, said deputy director of UTS's Designing Out Crime Research Centre, Rodger Watson.

The research centre, a joint initiative of the NSW Department of Police & Justice and UTS, runs annual design projects with staff and students to tackle complex social issues such as opportunistic crime.

"People need to know there are measures they can take to ensure their money is safe and that there are things that banks can do to stay ahead of criminals," said Watson.

"Finding creative solutions using the latest innovative approaches will put the banks ahead in the ongoing battle with fraudsters," he said.

Supported by international ATM manufacturer NCR, the final designs were exhibited in a Covent Garden exhibition in London last year.

The Royal Scotland Bank is working with the Design Against Crime research centre at UAL to trial the designs and a report on their outcome is due to be published soon.

"It's great to see that the Royal Bank of Scotland is taking this forward in the UK and it would be great to form a similar partnership in Australia with a bank, or even the whole banking sector, to really take this problem on in a serious way," said Watson