25 replies to this topic

[Fil]

This is a warning message for everyone. Yesterday morning I tried to take money from a bank machine near my house. The machine seemed to break and retained my card. Last night a large sum of money was stolen from my account.
I am telling you this in the hope that if the same thing happens to you and a bank machine appears to retain your card telephone the bank immediately and protect your accounts.
Please be careful.

[Cukurbagli]

Sorry to hear about that Fil, hope you get the money back.

[sunny]

Very sorry to hear about this Fil. Did the machine seem strange in any way before you put your card in?
What are the bank doing about it? Will they refund your money?

Was it a Turkish bank or a UK bank card?

[KKW]

Seems like a good time to remind members to make sure that they've got the number for their bank in their mobile phone memory.

As soon as an ATM eats your card, contact your bank and cancel it.

[KalkanJohn]

This is a warning message for everyone. Yesterday morning I tried to take money from a bank machine near my house. The machine seemed to break and retained my card. Last night a large sum of money was stolen from my account.
I am telling you this in the hope that if the same thing happens to you and a bank machine appears to retain your card telephone the bank immediately and protect your accounts.
Please be careful.

Here is how the crooks do it in Kalkan. I think the same modus operandi is used in other resorts.

KTLN ATM scam article

Saturday and Sunday are popular days to do this scam, as you have to wait until Monday morning before you can talk to someone inside the branch. Then you find out you have a bigger problem than you thought.

I hope you get your money back quickly - you should be refunded as it is clearly a fraud.

[Ahududu]

My OH got done by an ATM scam too.

They put a completely false front on it with a fibre optic camera on the key pad.
They sit in a car and take the pin no while somehow copying the card, they do it on a Friday or Saturday when lots of people are using the ATM.

He got a call from his bank a couple of days later to ask him if he'd been to India in the last few days because a large sum of money had been withdrawn somewhere in India - the banks have a special software that alerts them to such unusual activity.
They knew fraud had been committed so he was ok.

The irony??..............................
He fixes ATMs as part of his job!!!!

Now, he spends a good minute or so checking every ATM he uses!!!!!

[Fil]

Sunny, last summer or the year before one of the ATMs on campus was broken because of the heat and retained my card. As far as I remember the machine made a similar clicking noise this time. On that occasion getting the card back was extremely bothersome and took about 10 days. I should have learned then that I might as well cancel the card and order a new one.

Is what KKW says common knowledge, that cards should be cancelled if retained by the machine? If so, why did I not know that? Do banks give that advice to customers? I don't think so, but they should, because even if you inform the bank immediately there is no way they can know whether the card is still in their machine or stolen.

I am already known as one of the most boring men in Antalya when it comes to the steps I take for security and safety. Seems I shall have to get even more boring. But I really let my guard down on Saturday, which was a very difficult day for a number of reasons, and I had no time to think about the situation or talk it through with someone sensible. Tomorrow I shall complete the transaction itiraz formu (dispute form) along with a dilekçe. Naturally I consider the responsibility to lie with the bank for having a machine that can be fixed to regurgitate a card. We shall see what happens.

Maybe we should post periodic reminders to people to cancel cards if retained by ATMs.

[Abi]

Fil I hope things go alright on Monday with the bank. I wonder how many other people who used that machine were affected as well.

Good advice KKW about cancelling your card as soon as it happens.

[KalkanJohn]

Is it good advice to cancel your card when it is in the ATM?

If it really has been captured by the machine, it is not going to be used by criminals. It is safe - literally in the integral safe where the ATM's cash is stored. If you cancel it, how are you going to withdraw cash? It takes time to get a replacement. By cancelling your card, you may be making life difficult for yourself.

I know people who have had their card 'innocently' swallowed by ATMs, and shortly after they have gone into the bank and retrieved their card - no damage done. No inconvenience. If they had phoned their bank in the UK to cancel, it would have been problematic withdrawing cash.

On the other hand, if your card has disappeared in suspicious circumstances, then of course it makes sense to err on the side of caution and cancel the card.

If you are the victim of such a scam, your UK bank should refund you. I know 2 people that this has happened to and they were refunded quite quickly. Also, I worked for a bank for 30 years and I know for certain that providing there is no reason to suspect cardholder collusion, the policy is very clear - refund the customer.

[Fil]

My account is with the Turkish bank because I live and work here. There were no suspicious circumstances as far as I could see, just a normal ATM malfunction as happened to me before.

After this experience I would advise anyone with a local account to cancel the card immediately and order a new one. When the card was retained before it took the best part of two weeks to work its way through the system back to me any way, a new card would not take much longer.

Of course, if you are on holiday and your account is in UK the situation is different, especially if it is your sole means of getting cash, but people should avoid putting themselves in that situation by having an alternative source of cash.

If the machine is outside the bank, and it is during working hours, then it is possible to confirm that the card is definitely in the machine. So maybe the advice should be to cancel the card unless you are using ATMs at bank branches during working hours.

On the Saturday night, before the trouble surfaced, shortly after falling asleep, I awoke having had a nightmare, I drempt I was having a heart attack, it was terrible. That must have been my subconscious warning me that I needed to do something about the card.

[KKW]

Is it good advice to cancel your card when it is in the ATM?

If it really has been captured by the machine, it is not going to be used by criminals. It is safe - literally in the integral safe where the ATM's cash is stored. If you cancel it, how are you going to withdraw cash? It takes time to get a replacement. By cancelling your card, you may be making life difficult for yourself.

Whether or not you cancel the card is obviously your choice. It also depends on whether you can be sure of the bank's policy about the return of cards "captured" by it's ATM.

You'll find that in the UK, most banks send a captured card to the originating bank and you then have to collect it from your own branch.

Some Turkish banks operate the same system whilst others will allow you to collect your card from the nearest branch of the ATM owner.

So, when you're card's just been swallowed by an ATM it's the decision you've got to make is " have I got a good chance of getting the card back pretty quickly or is there a chance that someone's going to get hold of it and empty my account ? "

If you fail to report the loss of your card to your bank "within a reasonable time" you'll be liable for any money withdrawn against the account.

"you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, p...?"

[Lucid]

very interesting and Fil gecmis olsun...
im going to ask about this subject to people around here as im curious to know if anyone we know has had this problem and where...
deary me ..im also a safe planning kind of person Fil and it would annoy me too...await to hear good news on your part
good luck
also curious to know your bank..and how well you think they deal with the process.....

Edited by Lucid, 16 August 2010 - 10:37 AM.

[Ken]

Fil I 'm sorry to hear this has happened to you. If you find out how this was done would you let us know?

There are a few ATM scams I haven't heard of yet, thanks for these contributions.

On two occasions I've had my card retained by a bank machine, which was right outside of the bank and part of the bank building. The next morning I went to the bank, and on both occasions the security guard checked my identification, and gave me back my ATM card. I was rather surprised that the security guard had access to it, but I did get it back and there were no suspicious charges on it.

[benhalterci]

I also hope Fil gets his money back soon. Recently am English friend of mine was a victim of the scan where a lot of numbers appeared on the scene and two men tried to 'help' her and the card got swallowed and they stole her pin. I got bothered once late in the evening at an ATM machine and as everyone says best time is bank hours but of course we often run out of cash at the weekends.

[Fil]

Thanks for the sympathy everyone. I'll let you know what happens.

[Fil]

I am pleased to tell you all that yesterday the bank gave me back 90% of the amount removed. So well done the bank. Phew.

[Cukurbagli]

So what happened to the other 10%? Is the bank in on the scam?

[Fil]

Ha, a good question. But at the moment I am just relieved to be reunited with most of what I thought I would never see again. Doubtlless I shall find the answer to the question in time, Çukurbağlı. I suspect the money was refunded through the bank's insurance against fraud, and the 10% may be an excess on that.

Mrs fil and I were going to go in to the bank today, complain seriously and then apply to the prosecutor, so this is a great weight off my mind.

[Lucid]

good news Fil
not quite the same style of scam but husband told me its happening all over Turkey...people call you pretending to be the police and demand money which you need to send on somehow..i dont know the ins and outs but they target elderly and one was trying to take out money from the ATM yesterday at the bank and when he asked for help he explained why the rush..he told them he thought he had to...when i find out more i will post it up here.

[benhalterci]

The bank would probably call it 'admin costs.' Seriously, I wonder how they pull this scam off. They must put some kind of fake screen in front of the real screen or something....beats me how they do it.