ATM scam
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
93
115
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
Palenque,
Mexico
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
for that matter, please be aware of the ATM scams and don't get caught
out like we did.
I went to an ATM machine on a Sunday (first
mistake!). The card immediately took our card and gave us nothing, no
money, no receipt. A local lady told us that we needed to call
the bank, using the number on the screen and give them the number of
the ATM machine. A local guy helped us too and offered to let us use
his phone, which we thought was really nice at the time, but probably
mistake number 2! A guy on the other end of the phone, who did speak
English, maybe we should have been suspicious at this point, told me to
put in a code and then my pin code 3 times. The machine did make a
noise, but nothing came out. He asked me to try two more times, but
then said that the card wasn't coming out and we needed to return
to the bank at 9am in order to retrieve the card from the bank.
The
man who had helped us told us that we should hang around to see if the
card was returned, but another guy told us it happens all the time and
we would get our card back in the morning.
We warned a German couple that were about to use the machine and then headed off, with no money!!!
We returned to the bank, at 8.15am, as we were told the banks opened at 8.30am not 9am - so why did the guy tell us 9am?
The
manager of the bank had a handful of cards that had been in the
machine, but mine was not one of them. She seemed quite unconcerned to
start with until I asked where is my card and what am I going to do
with no money and no card. At this point she seemed to make a little
more effort and returned to the machine to re-check, but nothing.
Now
alarm bells were ringing as I realised that thins bank had given my
cash card to someone else and it had been over a day already. We went
straight to the Internet and called my bank, but it was too late. The
person had taken the maximum out on the day he got the card and the
next day. I lost 2,000 UK pounds in less than 24 hours.
The fraud team are now investigating it, but some things that I have learnt about travelling abroad and using ATM machines -:
Do not withdraw cash on a Sunday when the banks are closed
Try
to use ATM's within the bank wherever possible, or at least with a
guard (many places have them in South and Central America)
If your
card gets taken by an ATM abroad, report it immediately, don't wait to
see what happens, it could cost you a lot of money!
I really
hope this never happens to you, but be especially careful in Santa
Elena, Guatemala. My advice would be take the money that you need with
you!!!! Santa Elena is where this happened to us.
