Citibank issues ATM fraud statement

Citibank issues ATM fraud statement
Published: 2006-03-06

An entry on the popular blogger website Boing Boing recently suggested Citibank may be battling a new ATM fraud issue, according to one report by a Citibank customer. The post appears to follow a blog entry by Jacob Appelbaum, who details problems accessing his Citibank accounts from Canadian ATM machines. Appelbaum discusses the unusual response he received from a Citibank representative who, according to the blog entry, indicated the problem was part of a bigger ATM fraud issue in the UK, Russia, and Canada.

In response to inquiries by SecurityFocus seeking confirmation of any ATM breach, Citibank has issued the following public statement:

"Recently, we became aware of fraudulent ATM cash withdrawls on Citi-branded MasterCard credit and debit cards used in the UK, Russia and Canada on customer accounts that had been possibly compromised in previous retailer breaches in the US. To protect customer accounts that were affected, we placed a special transaction block in those three countries on PIN based transactions. We are currently reissuing cards, as appropriate, to affected customers.

Protecting our customers' accounts and personal information is one of our highest priorities."

No further information about the fraudulent ATM activity is known at this time.

Posted by: Kelly Martin