For some reason, Chase bank decided to take a second look at the $6,200 an unidentified person removed from Bronx retiree Ernest Nitzberg’s checking account. It just might have been the outcry after he shared his story with a global audience on the Huffington Post. [More]
atms
Do Not Steal An ATM, Then Ram A Stolen Truck Into It
By 2.21.10
Police in East Peoria, Illinois say that an unidentified man used a stolen pickup truck to smash through the door and front window of a gas station and dislodge an ATM from the wall it was bolted to. He then hauled the machine to a parking lot where he attempted to withdraw cash by backing the truck into the ATM. He was not successful, and may have stolen another vehicle to leave the area. [More]
Would This ATM Skimmer Have Fooled You?
By 1.21.10
Would you have noticed this ATM skimmer, spotted on a Citibank ATM in California? The actual card slot is on the left. The skimmer is on the right. The contraption is seemingly custom-designed for this model ATM, and includes a pinhole camera for capturing victims’ PINs. Fancy. [More]
How Cons Steal Your ATM Card
By 12.15.09
The Real Hustle shows two methods fraudsters can use to jack your ATM card and PIN. The first is the skimming method most of us are familiar with. The second is a lo-tech distraction-based method that, while interesting, seems a little higher risk than most card thieves are willing to put up with. [More]
You Can Buy Used ATMs On Craigslist
By 11.24.09
Even if you always look for skimmers and hidden cameras when you use an ATM, you still might be a victim of identity theft if the ATM is later sold on eBay or Craigslist. [More]
Are Postcard-Sized Rebate Checks A Conspiracy?
By 11.7.09
So you’ve fought the mighty rebaterus and won, prying your hard-won mail-in rebate money from its claws. If your rebate isn’t in the form of a prepaid debit card, it’s probably a postcard-sized check—cheap to mail, simple, easy. For the rebate fulfillment company. For the consumer depositing checks via ATM as banks cut back on their hours, it’s not so simple or easy.
ATM Ponzi Scheme Was $80 Million Cash Machine For Fraudsters
By 9.21.09
Every Ponzi scheme has to have a gimmick; something to convince marks that they’re investing in a legitimate enterprise, even when they’re being bilked of every last cent. For Bernie Madoff, it was an investment fund that offered ridiculously steady returns. For Vance Moore II and Walter Netschi it was ATMs, an incredibly prosaic setup that managed to siphon $80 million from investors who believed they were putting their money into cash machines. The only cash machine, of course, was the fund itself, which Moore and Netschi allegedly operated from 2005 to 2008.
Video: Guy Installing Skimmer On ATM
By 9.14.09
LiveLeak has posted surveillance video footage from earlier this month of a guy in Brazil installing a skimming device onto a bank ATM. The second half of the tape shows him being arrested and officials revealing the device, which just reminds us that the next time we use an ATM, we’re first going to take off a shoe and hit everything on it like it’s covered in giant ants. See the video below.
Credit Union Celebrates Labor Day By Limiting ATM Transactions To $40
By 9.5.09
How are you spending the long weekend? If you’re one of 2,000 Arizona Federal Credit Union customers affected in a Visa security breach, we hope you weren’t planning a trip out of state.
Skimmers Rig Door Instead Of ATM
By 8.31.09
Last week, a customer in Long Beach, New York, discovered a skimmer attached to the outside of a local ATM branch instead of on specific machines. We’ve talked a lot about being wary of any suspicious add-ons at the ATM, but in this case the criminals were collecting card info as people swiped to enter the building—although they still had pinhole cameras set up to record PINs next to each keypad.
Boa Constrictor Discovered Lounging On Top Of ATM
By 8.22.09
Is this boa constrictor discovered on top of an ATM in Serbia part of an attempt to control the scourge of mice nesting in ATMs, or just the latest international crime syndicate to take up ATM skimming?
ATM Skimmer Ring Hits Chicago Suburbs
By 8.15.09
Reader Kellie reports being the victim of an ATM skimming scam in the Chicago area. Mostly, she was amazed that the thefts weren’t reported in the local media, and she asked bank employees why. Here’s what they told her.
BoA Strands Customer In Siberia With No Money
By 8.11.09
Bank of America has cut off Shannon’s debit card and says she has to get a new one. This would otherwise be a minor inconvenience except for the fact that Shannon is in Irkutsk, Russia on a 2-week Trans-Siberian trek.
Mouse Builds Expensive Nest Inside ATM
By 8.9.09
A mouse snuck into an ATM at a gas station in eastern Oregon and made what had to have been an adorable little home out of sixteen $20 bills. Nobody knows how Scrooge McMouse got into the ATM, but after giving the station attendant a good scare, he was fished out of his money pit and set free.
Hackers Discover Data-Stealing ATM At Convention
By 8.4.09
Nobody knows yet whether it was planted by an attendee, or if the ATM had been there for some period of time before the event, but hackers at last week’s DefCon conference in Las Vegas discovered a rogue unit that was designed to capture customers’ credit card data with each use.
Two Men Charged With Placing Skimmer On Maryland ATM
By 7.24.09
Two men “of no fixed address” were charged in Maryland earlier this month with tampering with an ATM and skimming funds. The men, currently in custody in Oklahoma for similar crimes, allegedly added a skimmer and camera to an ATM at a Maryland PNC bank in April, but police weren’t notified of the tampering until May 20th.
Banks To "Earn" $38.5 Billion From Overdrafts This Year
By 6.29.09
Consumers aren’t the only ones looking to save money and gain a little extra cash on the side. Banks are people too, you know! In the face of toxic assets and credit card delinquencies, they’ve come up with a plan to increase their revenue: New fees! Higher fees! Higher minimum balance requirements! Trickier overdrafts!
REI Says ATM Photographer Is Welcome In Their Store Any Time
By 5.15.09
REI’s Director of Corporate Communications contacted us with an official statement about the recent showdown between two Loomis security guards and a customer with an iPhone at one of their Seattle stores. She says despite the document Shane says he was forced to sign at the police station, he is not banned from their stores. Below is REI’s official statement.
