Expat Life

Unnecessary fees and skimming risks when withdrawing cash from ATMs in Vienna

Posted by morgenhund on

I think you will spend 105 seconds reading this post

There has been a lot of reporting in the Austrian media recently about some ATMs charging for cash withdrawals from Austrian accounts (non-Euro denominated accounts have always been subject to some kind of fees). Fortunately not all ATMs charge – the most widely-spread ones (Bankomat) with their distinctive blue and green logos are not charging for cash withdrawals. In addition there have been cases of ATMs having been rigged to allow “skimming” of card details. 

EuronetThe ATMs operated by Euronet 360 have been charging EUR 1.95 per transaction since 1 July 2016, with many located in prominent locations in Vienna. However, to put the situation into context, Euronet 360 operates only about one percent of ATMs in Austria, but many are located in very prominent locations (e.g. close to the Stephansplatz and Graben, on Mariahilferstrasse and at Vienna airport). They can be identified by a blue diamond-shaped Euronet logo. A list of identified Euronet ATMs is available on the site girokonto.at.

Here are a few tips:

  • Use Bankomat-branded ATMs (with a bright green and light blue B logo), which are frequently
    Bankomat Logo
    Bankomat logo – for ATMs operated by PSA.

    located at bank branches in foyers, at train stations in supermarkets. Payment Services Austria have a bankomat search on their website.

  • ATMs that charge a fee are required to give you the option to cancel a withdrawal. Usually it is only shown on the screen asking you to confirm your withdrawal, and the information about the applicable charges often in relatively small writing.

On a further note, a couple of tips about being aware of the risk of skimming. There has been a widely published video on youtube about a case of an ATM near Stephansdom that was rigged to enable skimming.

  • Check whether the keypad and card slit are fixed – frequently skimming involves an overlaid keypad and a modified card slit – as in the case of the video.
  • Even if no money appears to have been taken from your account, report it to the police and cancel your card – to prevent cloned cards being used at your expense.