ATM uncertainties

[Life_N_Cancun]

Some of the banks in Cancun DO have card readers at the door to control access. They are only used after business hours. Did you use your card to pay for ANYTHING else, food, gas, hotel. Its much more likely that if your numbers were grabbed it was during one of those transactions. High Res, cameras, and detailed planning, need too much effort and planning. Also, just to point out again, credit card/ATM card theift was the number one money crime last time I checked and it could have just as easily happened in Canada as Mexico. If there were 3 or 4 people in there with you that were planning to rip you off they would have just mugged you rather than praying they get a read on your pin and card numbers.

[TAPPY]

I tend to agree with Life in Cancun as to how your numbers were grabbed. I find it highly unlikely that it would have been as you described in your previous post. It could be that the ATM was rigged ahead of time.
It can and does happen.

This seems to be a reputable ATM/bank so your bank should be able to obtain the video of the atm in question to tell you if that was the case.

Sorry this happened to you, what a bummer....

Be sure to check your credit report if you have not already done so.

[jobob]

Read this post earlier then watching the news just had to comment.
In Vancouver, B.C., Canada the police have announced a "beware when using ATMs" warning. The bad guys are putting a card swiper with a red and green light on the bank door over the bank's swiper . Sound familiar? This takes 5 seconds to attach. Then they have put a tiny pin-hole camera above the keyboard. This takes 5 minutes. Even though the door is unlocked people are so used to swiping their cards to get in ( I've done it maybe once in about 12 years because they're always unlocked where I live) they do it. This device records everything on the magnetic strip then the camera catches you inputing your PIN. They say Canadians (not the banks) have lost about $44 million in the past year so imagine what it would be in the US $400 million?
So, check the door before you swipe, it'll probably already be open. Look around for anything unusual when you're about to key in your PIN, cover the keypad . Haven't tried it but if the door is locked probably the bad guy's swiper won't open it anyways but if it does I wonder if you could open it with a library card or driver's licence, anything with a magnetic strip rather than bank card. Then you should be safe.
Be aware!!!!

[jobob]

As I was posting my last I guess Tappy was also posting. Sorry Tappy, what's happening in Vancouver and apparently all over the world is nothing to do with tapping (sorry for the pun) into the ATM or an inside job. The police are saying Eastern European crime organization.
Bob

[TAPPY]

That is what I was refering to when I said rigging the atm...it happens all the time, more so than people realize....
If this is what happened here, there will be other victims as well.

[FrankRN]

Originally Posted by Life_N_Cancun

Did you use your card to pay for ANYTHING else, food, gas, hotel. Its much more likely that if your numbers were grabbed it was during one of those transactions.

I agree that it is MUCH more likely that someone got your card info when you handed it to them to make a purchase somewhere. I have never had a problem with the cash machines in Mexico, and I have used them from Cancun to Chichen Itza.

Even in the US, a fake machine is fairly uncommon because you have to have, you guessed it, A FAKE MACHINE. I am even more skeptical that it was the machine because it gave you $1,000. That means it had to be a fully working fake machine that was hooked into the banking system. It would also mean that the thief was willing to part with $1,000 in the hope of getting it back.

The card swiper on the door I hadn't heard about before, and so now I have even more to be paranoid about. What ever happened to using money. It seems the only time I ever see cash anymore is when I give my 8 year old her allowance. She's the smart one. She doesn't accept checks or credit cards.

But people swiping you card through a reader happens all the time in the US, and pretty much everywhere else I imagine. I NEVER use my credit card or debit card when I travel EXCEPT for the cash machine. Once it is out of your site, it is out of your control.

If you have a VISA or Mastercard check card, than you should be covered against the fraudulent transactions. If it is just a bank debit card, you may have problems.

[momotarosan]

Originally Posted by jtm1631

First of all the fact that I'm from Chicago doesn't make me a wise guy although I have seen movies about Al Capone . Any way, I prefer the term smart a$$ to wise guy.

I was not commenting on how the information was obtained, it was the international crime ring that intrigued me. Didn't mean to offend you or belittle the severity of what happened.

JT

I am a Chicagoan as well
the bit about International Crime Ring is attributed to the part that the three people at the other ATM did not appear to be Mexican nationals...my nephew said the youngest of the three may have glanced over quickly as I entered my pin number. these con artists don't work alone, and they are probably constantly on the move. the HSBC branch was right next door to the Tulum police department, so they do have a lot of balls to set up their operation next door...or should I become a conspiracy theorists and say that La Policia is involved as well.

No, I did not use my ATM as a check card for purchases. As far a mugging me in an ATM lobby versus discreetly steal the information...the branch was next to the Tulum police department, and if I am trained in martial arts...it would be much safer to steal the info than to commit robbery at 1 p.m. in the afternoon next the the P.D.

[sportmodel]

We used the exact same ATM. It does, indeed, have a card reader on the door, although we never used our card in it; rather someone would always be coming out while we were coming in, or the door was unlocked.

I don't doubt that this can, and does happen.

[james]

Summing this up, I think everyone would agree that these tips, among others, are good practice anywhere you use an ATM, from Canada to Thailand.

I've been following them for as long as I've used these public access financial portals. Maybe that's helped me avoid fraud. I use my ATM card all over the world wherever I travel and I've never had a problem because I would never allow someone to 'glance' at my pin code. If someone is too close to me, I tell them to move away.

Another thing I usually do is to never insert my ATM card into a door opening device. Any magnetic strip card will do the trick.

[momotarosan]

Originally Posted by jobob

As I was posting my last I guess Tappy was also posting. Sorry Tappy, what's happening in Vancouver and apparently all over the world is nothing to do with tapping (sorry for the pun) into the ATM or an inside job. The police are saying Eastern European crime organization.
Bob

My bank rep did confirm that that unauthorized ATM transactions were in Bulgaria...and to mine and my nephew's recollection, the 3 people at the other ATM machines did look like they could have been Eastern Europeans.

[tommy]

Originally Posted by momotarosan

here is my theory I how it happened;

there were people at a distance w/ high resolution digital camera or someone near the door, I had to insert the card into the slot near the door to open it. someone saw and memorized the number or took a picture from a distance as I removed the card from my wallet and inserted...the 3 people inside pretended to be tourists that didn't have a clue how to operate a mexican ATM that displayed only spanish...they took a long time because they pretended they were confused...so with a team of 3 or 4 being part of a ring, one memorized or took picture of the card outside, the ones inside pretended to be a foreign family and one member might innocently glance over when you are entering your pin number and memorizes the 4 digits...this is probably the work of a crime ring that travels from one location to another...and provide the info to their counterpart in another part of the world to make a card and access an ATM somewhere else.

be careful with your card when you insert it to open a door or atm...keep it covered as you insert it and remove it from a slot...unless the door entry device was a card-reader they implanted!

do any of you locals who have used that ATM remember if you had to insert your card by the door to open it?

Did they look like this?

[FrankRN]

Hey ... I've seen him outside of MY bank with a high resolution digital camera Could be high tech, pin stealing, clone robots

Originally Posted by sun seekers

Did they look like this?

[FrankRN]

See, here is another one. They're EVERYWHERE!

Originally Posted by sun seekers

Did they look like this?

[momotarosan]

Originally Posted by sun seekers

Did they look like this?

that's funny, I didn't know that Mel is Slavic...I thought he is Australian

[tommy]

thats what he wanted you to think!!!