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Bankrate: ATM Rip-Offs

Supers:
Voice of Det. Pedro Palenzuela from:18 - 26
Det. Pedro Palenzuela, Investigating Skimming Crimes from 1:08 – 1:13

Standup Intro: ATM’s are a convenient way for you to get your cash, but they're also a convenient way for crooks to get your cash. And the methods used to steal your money are only getting more sophisticated. Bankrate.com details how high-tech crooks stay one step ahead of the law.

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Voice over 1: ATMs are a convenient source for accessing cash. And as it turns out, that’s even true if you don’t have your own cash to access.

Voice over 2: These days clever crooks are putting computers—made to look and perform just like an automated teller-- onto ATM machines so they can gather bank customers’ account numbers and PINs.

SOT: “And you would manually enter your PIN number on the screen… So if your PIN is 1, 2, 3, 4, you’d enter 1, 2, 3, 4 and then it would pause for a second and then tell you there was a malfunction with the machine.”

Voice over 3: Even Detective Palenzuela says this latest form of skimming, or stealing from ATMs, would be a testament to American ingenuity if it wasn’t criminal. The only reason anyone discovered this act of skimming was when a customer noticed the front of the ATM coming literally unglued.

Voice over 4: So when you’re using an ATM, pay attention. Look for strange wording, like “swipe your card here before using the ATM.” If your card doesn’t come back right away, contact the bank. Don’t let strangers help with transactions, or even stand close to you for that matter. In fact, detectives think the thief was real close by the ATM during his crimes, just waiting until the battery in his computer died.

SOT: “Maybe a couple dozen customers would come up and use their ATM, as long as they had a couple hours window the battery was still operating, they’re fine...”

Stand-up: We have more ways to safeguard your money….just visit our web site at www.bankrate.com. I’m Kristin Arnold.

Bankrate.com's corrections policy
-- Posted: December 31, 2008
 
 
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