As of next month, Rabobank is going to block nearly all bank cards for use outside Europe to prevent skimmers from raiding customers’ accounts.

People planning to use the card outside Europe will from now on have to tell the Dutch bank’s website when and where they wish to do so.

“Banks in Belgium have been doing this for some time and skimming has virtually disappeared since then,” says Rabobank’s head of private accounts, Rik Op den Brouw. Around 90 percent of Rabobank customers never venture outside Europe, he said. The bank includes Belarus and Turkey in Europe.

Last year, Dutch banks suffered losses worth dozens of millions of euros as a result of skimming. Rabobank says its monthly losses due to skimming amount to up to 1.5 million euros.

(cl/tt)

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