I remember (several years ago) hearing of a scam involving ATM machines. Appearantly, crooks obtained an ATM, placed it at an airport, and altered the programming a little bit.
When someone attempted to use the machine, everything would seem normal up to the time he/she had entered the PIN. Then the familiar “This ATM is temporarily out of service” message would be displayed, and the card would be returned. Of course the card info and PIN were recorded, and it was a simple matter to make a copy of the card.
This story smacks of UL, but it ain’t on snopes. At least my search didn’t turn anything up.
Anybody else heard of this scam?
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
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Mangeorge, 2000
Yeah, android209, that’s it. Thanks.
Amazing, but certainly not surprising. I’m going to have to start checking every transaction on my bank statements. I think that making fewer, but larger, withdrawals might be a good idea.
Peace,
mangeorge
The Discovery channel showed a story about an almost identical crime, though I think it was in the US. Someone bought an ATM and actually hired programmers to modify the code so it records the PIN, telling them it’s for a trade show demo. He installed it in a shopping mall and operated it for a few days. They said that he didn’t steal enough to even break even… Anybody have more details, esp. if one of these two crimes were inspired by the other?
On a related note, I just learned that ATM users here in Japan are not protected by the bank from fraud, unlike credit cards. If someone steals my card and withdraws all my money (if there happens to be any, that is) it’s lost, period. Is this the case in the US as well? Do people get theft insurance from elsewhere?
And then there was the highly suspected (but, AFAIK never proven) scam involving grocery store POS debits where the scammers (obviously inside the system) scanned for accounts that regularly (i.e., daily) made small POS debits and then added one or two for familiar amounts to thousands of accounts. If you spend $8-12 a day at the neighborhood grocery store and can’t find that receipt for $9.23 on the 23rd, you’ll probably just blow it off and take the amount out when you balance the checking account.
It could add up, but, while I’ve seen suspicions voiced, there’s never been a hard case (that I know of).
I think you’re both talking about the same incident. It was done by 2 guys and it went on for months. They had several ATMs and they were planning on just gathering account numbers & PINs and then doing a massive electronic funds transfer worth millions. It cost them something like 150 grand (of their own money) to set all this up.
They got caught because one of the programmers hired to write software for them realized what it could be used for and called the Feds.
The stories have got to be true. I saw a Law and Order episode about it once.
Some ATMs here in London display a warning as your cash is being dispensed: If you see any strange devices attached to this machine, please inform the bank immediately. Uhh, duh.
The story IS true from the Washington DC area where a fake ATM was set up and recorded people’s PINs and account numbers, etc. Then, it would just say “transaction cannot be completed”. It sounds too far fetched, but it did happen.
What they used to do was glue the ATM door shut. Then come back later, it would be stuffed with tons of money & hit the door & it would open. Don’t have atm with doors anymore.
I used to work as a fraud analyst for a bank and can tell you that its only too easy to stealmagnetic information from the back of an ATM card and make counterfeits. I don’t mean to sew fear here but it happens all the time so you should be very careful who you give the card to and be very aware of your surroundings when using it especially in. The bank I worked for suffered about 1-2 million dollars lost per year from this brand of fraud. Yes you will get your money back if you are victimized within ten business days from the day you file the claim. Thats federal regulation that apply’s to all banks. Personally I’ve tracked one instance of a fake ATM and I’ve been told that there is equipment the size of a pager that can copy credit cards. If you want more information on what your rights are in this type of situation look up the Electronic Funds Transfer Act Reg. E.