This morning at 10:30 a.m., I went to the ATM on the ground floor of the building where I work to withdraw some cash. A couple behind me engaged me in conversation while I did my business. I took my cash, the receipt, and (I thought) my ATM card. (You’re way ahead of me)
After I bought my Subway sandwich and took it back to my office, I checked my balance via the Internet, as I do every time I take out money. $300.00 were missing from my account!!! I checked my wallet and could not find my bank card. I raced downstairs to see if I had left it, but, of course, it was gone.
I immediately called my bank and canceled the card. I am going to see if I can get that money back, but because it’s my fault for leaving the card in the machine, they have every right to laugh in my face.
I am posting this to vent, but also to warn others not to
be distracted at an ATM, even if it’s in a safe, indoors location.
I guess this answers the question [URL=“http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33100”, “Are Mensans really all that smart?”.God, I am such an imbecile!
Great, I can’t even do VB code right!
How did they get your code goboy?
PLEASE tell me you didnt have it written on the card!
Call your bank asap.
Boy, I could have so much fun with that OP goboy. 
But, I won’t. I’ll just give my sympathies, and hopes that the people who took your money got mugged on the way home.
And you have my sympathy, if it helps.
Thanks for the concern, Keli and Oldscratch. No, I didn’t have the code written on the card, but the ATM will still disburse cash as long as the card is left in the slot. I cwould have sworn that I had taken the card with me when I left.
I called my bank immediately after I figured out what had happened.
Oldscratch, a special thanks for your kindness in view of our many disagreements.
Why do I have the feeling that this was meant to teach me
humility, in addition to the lesson about paying attention to what I am doing?
You wish it were me standing behind you.
My story of Dudley-Do-Right type behavior: I was at an ATM a few years ago waiting for an older couple to conclude their business. They were scratching their heads, and smacking keys, after which they simply walked away. When I walked up to the screen, I was presented with an option, “Do you wish to make another transaction?” Moral diemma, which only lasted a few seconds. I hit “no”, retrieved their card, and their receipt, which incidentally indicated that they had well over $20,000 in their account. I found them inside the bank where the machine was and gave them back their card.
Don’t you wish more people were like me? I know I do.
bummer, goboy… that’s gotta hurt.
Dunno if it’s the machine or my Credit Union, but if you respond “Yes” to the transaction question, you STILL have to reenter your PIN to get cash out of my account - seems to be a simple change all banks should make IMHO.
Don’t the ATMs give you the card back before the cash?
All the ones in the UK return the card, and won’t dispense the cash or receipt until you physically remove the card from the slot.
goboy said:
Do you think they were trying to distract you on purpose? Is it possible they saw you type in your pin number?
Just wonderin’
Ha! I can top that! At least, assuming your older couple’s bank limited ATM withdrawals to some reasonable figure. I was flying back from a business trip, and was looking around idly when I noticed a small envelope on the floor under the seat. I fished it out with my foot. I could feel a card and a lump inside. A love note, I assumed. Could be interesting. Imagine my surprise when the lump turned out to be $450.00 of cold hard cash.
There was a message on the card, something like “Katie: here’s a little something to buy Cajun food with on your trip. Love, Dad.” I debated what to do for about three seconds, then rang the stewardess. The flight crew contacted the airline, who in turn was able to track down “Katie”, who had occupied my seat on the previous flight. A twelve-year-old girl, it turned out. Plus, they gave me a bottle of champagne for being so honest.
Sorry about the hijack, goboy. I can make it up by cruelly insulting your intelligence, as per the OP, if you want.
Go ahead, it can’t be worse than what I’ve been calling myself all day. I am dumber than Dan Quayle squared.
You know, these people shouldn’t be all that hard to catch. Nearly every ATM has a closed circuit camera attached to it. It’ll make it even easier to catch them if the couple made a transaction on their card after taking your money. If you think about it, the couple has to be the perpetrators since they were in line at the ATM and would have had to take your card out (therefore rendering it useless unless they knew the PIN) in order to use their card.
No matter how careless you are or how foolish you feel, their actions were still highly illegal and I’m sure your bank will want to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Personally, I hope they rot in jail.
And, of course, forgetfulness does not equal stupidity. Just think of the old absent-minded professor stereotype.
neutron star beat me to it, but yeah, figuring out who did it shouldn’t be difficult. My sympathies to you, goboy. This must suck.
…But sucks even more that they were dishonest assholes. Your stupidity is not the cause of their dishonesty, so don’t beat yourself up. I would have returned your card (For what it’s worth). Sorry to hear of your misfortune!
Zette
Sounds like a scam to me. Every ATM I’ve used forces you to re-enter your PIN to make a second withdrawel. I bet the couple was trying to distract you and peering over your shoulder.
My husband was using a drive-up ATM a couple of years ago, and there was no one in line when he pulled up. He started to put in the card, and noticed the “Do you wish to make another transaction” notice on the screen, then saw that there was still a card in there. This particular drive-up was attatched to a drive-up bank, with human tellers. So, my husband pulled the card out, backed up, and drove up to one of the teller windows and returned the card. The teller was very surprised, but very grateful. She happened to know the owner of the card, an elderly lady who was a frequent customer. The teller thanked my husband profusely, and told him she’d call the lady right away.
goboy, sometimes stuff just happens. It sucks, but you certainly can prosecute. While I’ve never had that happen to me, it is certainly not something I would put past myself. Good luck!
Man! You really are stupid! I can’t believe everyone came in here and was so nice to someone who is so obviously wasting our bandwidth. I’d shoot you myself if only I had a gun! I mean, really, just go stick your head in the oven, boy, it’s all over now! Frankly, I feel your stupidness rubbing off on me just for having read and posted to this thread.
Yuck! I’ve got to get away from the stupid boy!
There. Now. You’ve been throughly trashed and kicked around. Feel better? Don’t make me come back in here and do it again. 
Usually the ones that pull your card inside the machine let you conduct multiple transactions. The ATM’s with slots that you swipe your card through real quick tend to allow only one transaction per swipe.
ATM’s should dispense the card after a cash withdrawl, onlyt prompting you for another transaction after a non-cash related transaction (i.e. balance inquiry, transfer etc.) hard luck goboy, but unless you find out who the persons were, you dont have much recourse.
That’s how ours in Canada work.(BC anyway)
Up here, you HAVE to get your card 1st.
Goboy…blame it on the bank…(all is fair when it comes to money) Tell them their out-of-date machine is the problem.
It’s worth a try…yes?