I used ATMs, including those at the airport (once I found them - top floor) with no problems. There was an armed guard in the general vicinity of the airport ATMs, perhaps that has put a stop to the scams. Plus, Rio does seem to be making some efforts to improve security ahead of the World Cup and the Olympics. They really have to! You can hardly invite thousands - hundreds of thousands? - of people to visit your supposedly world-class city and tell them they daren't use ATMs.

Do be careful - we were in Manaus in July and used the HSBC ATM in the Hotel Tropical and four of us had our cards skimmed. The ATM's at the airport weren't working and we were not in the city to go to a bank since the hotel is at Playa Negro. We never saw anything unusual on the ATM and it took a couple weeks before they started using the cards. By that time we were home and immediately found the initial transactions.

I also had my card info copied somewhere in Brazil. I was notified by my bank two months later, ironically just hours before I was about to depart on another trip abroad, which made for a lot of inconvenience.

I also remember having to look around for ATM's since many, even at major banks, did not work.

I traveled in Brazil for 6 weeks in multiple regions. The general rule of thumb was to only use ATMs in banks and avoid the ones that are found in small shops or on the street. I always paid cash for taxis and I occasionally used my card for restaurants and no harm ever came of it. If you are really nervous about it then you can probably just trust your gut about trying to only use your card in major places like the major banks and/or big restaurants.