Channel Ten News 22-5-2002 "ATM Scam"
J D Leister
From: ANZ Cash Management and Transaction Services.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
The latest ATM scam involves thieves putting a thin, clear, rigid
plastic
'sleeve' into the ATM card slot. When you insert your card, the machine
can't read the strip, so it keeps asking you to re-enter your PIN
number.
Meanwhile, someone behind you watches as you tap in your number.
Eventually you give up, thinking the machine has swallowed your card and
you
walk away. The thieves then remove the plastic sleeve complete with
card,
and empty your account. The way to avoid this is to run your finger
along
the card slot before you put your card in. The sleeve has a couple of
tiny
prongs that the thieves need to get the sleeve out of the slot, and
you'll
be able to feel them. The police would like as many people as possible
to
be aware of this scam, so pass this on to your friends.
Trevor Morgan
ANZ Cash Management & Transaction Services
Anthony Horan
> The latest ATM scam involves thieves putting a thin, clear, rigid plastic
> 'sleeve' into the ATM card slot. When you insert your card, the machine
> can't read the strip, so it keeps asking you to re-enter your PIN
> number.
Oh dear, Leister, surely even you can smell an email hoax when you run across
one?
Think about it for a second.
Did you SEE IT ON THE NEWS? Of course you didn't, because it was never ON the
news. Anywhere. It's a hoax.
You're parroting an email you got today without bothering to check its
validity. It's because of people like you that crap such as this wastes
everyone's time.
Oh, and hey, look at this:
http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/scams/atmtheft.htm
Pop down to the second quoted "alert" on that page. Sound familiar? Hmm?
> Meanwhile, someone behind you watches as you tap in your number.
Well, isn't that original. Plays on standard-issue stranger-fear, just like
any good hoax email does.
> Eventually you give up, thinking the machine has swallowed your card and
> you walk away.
Maybe idiots do, but anyone with an IQ above 20 would not presume the machine
had swallowed their card unless it told them so.
> The police would like as many people as possible to
> be aware of this scam, so pass this on to your friends.
Guess what, John? World's ending tomorrow. Pass it on.
> Trevor Morgan
> ANZ Cash Management & Transaction Services
He does not exist.
- Anthony
Mark
"Anthony Horan" <anthon...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.175625036...@News.CIS.DFN.DE...
I agree with you here Anthony. I received this hoax email about 6 weeks ago.
I sure as hell didn't see it on the news today either.
J D Leister
sucked in and actually ran the story as did
3AW a few months ago but with the CBA as
the focus?
Katharine S
"J D Leister" <joh...@senet.com.au> wrote in message
news:3CEB4EA2...@senet.com.au...
> Was on the 5pm news tonight
They're a bit slow, this has been around for ages.
I won't be running my finger along the ATM slot, there's probably more
likely to be something sharp in there than one of those plastic sleeves...
Anyway, the easiest way to make sure this doesn't occur is to not let anyone
see you type in your PIN!
Btw are you sure this is from ANZ? It's a worry if even they call it a "PIN
number"...
--
Katharine S.
A closed mind is like a sealed room - It's going to get awfully stuffy.
Alex
> Was on the 5pm news tonight
> From: ANZ Cash Management and Transaction Services.
> PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
> The latest ATM scam involves thieves putting a thin, clear, rigid
> plastic
> 'sleeve' into the ATM card slot. When you insert your card, the machine
> can't read the strip, so it keeps asking you to re-enter your PIN
> number.
> Meanwhile, someone behind you watches as you tap in your number.
John, would you please stop posting this kind of crap? If you _consider_
how an ATM works, you would realise that this "scam" is utter fiction (in
that case alone, I _could_ believe it was on Ten News.) Think about
it for a second - if the ATM can't read the magnetic strip, it would
_reject_ the card, not repeatedly ask for the PIN number... Try it
yourself by sticking a non-magnetic plastic card of the same size into an
ATM sometime :-)
There _was_ an ATM scam in the past which involved placing a fake
cover over the cash slot, which trapped the notes emerging from the slot.
Alex.
--
Remove 'leng' to email me.
"You're a nutcase! You're a bleeding nutcase!"
"They said the same of Jesus Christ, Freud, and Galileo..."
"They said it of a lot of nutcases too!"
- Stanley and George ("Bedazzled")
Katharine S
>
> > The latest ATM scam involves thieves putting a thin, clear, rigid
plastic
> > 'sleeve' into the ATM card slot. When you insert your card, the machine
> > can't read the strip, so it keeps asking you to re-enter your PIN
> > number.
>
> Oh dear, Leister, surely even you can smell an email hoax when you run
across
> one?
It may be a 'hoax' in terms of the way he got the info, and who it's
purportedly from, but as per the snoops reference you gave, it isn't a hoax
in terms of it actually happening.
--
Katharine S.
Black holes are where God divided by zero.
Grant
does occur in South Africa were the banks have warned ATM users. It is but
one of many ATM fraud schemes.
The newspaper article can be fouund at
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=ct200204251029181
62A350967
A short snippet from the article;
<snip> It's just another one of the many ATM scams - the insertion of a
plastic sleeve into the card slot - but it is doing the rounds again, Absa
spokesperson Neline Swanepoel said on Wednesday. Standard Bank spokesperson
Erik Larsen said the email's advice on how to avoid becoming a victim was
sound. Larsen said new hardware and software his bank provided in its ATMs
late last year had meant that Standard Bank customers were not affected by
the scam. The new technology shut down ATMs immediately they were tampered
with. The computers would come back online after about five minutes, but
would shut down again if there was any foreign object in the card throat,
Larsen said. Customers were warned by an on-screen message.
Bat Thumb
3AW the better.....
"J D Leister" <joh...@senet.com.au> wrote in message
news:3CEB99DA...@senet.com.au...
Malcolm Taylor
"Alex" <al...@leng.zip.com.au> wrote in message
news:RMMG8.2266$06.3...@nasal.pacific.net.au...
Hoax or not, it was reported on Ten News Adelaide. As reported, it was
not the ATM which requested the re-entry of the PIN, but a "helpful"
person who approached the person using the ATM and suggested how they
could retrieve their card (by re-entering the PIN while the scammer
watched). This, of course did not work and the owner of the card left.
The scammer then retrieved the card after the owner left and used it
with the PIN they saw the owner enter.
Alex
> Hoax or not, it was reported on Ten News Adelaide. As reported, it was
> not the ATM which requested the re-entry of the PIN, but a "helpful"
> person who approached the person using the ATM and suggested how they
> could retrieve their card (by re-entering the PIN while the scammer
> watched). This, of course did not work and the owner of the card left.
> The scammer then retrieved the card after the owner left and used it
> with the PIN they saw the owner enter.
This has _got_ to be an urban legend... Nobody's _that_ stupid - not
even Matthew Hoodgear or whatever he calls himself nowadays.
Sheesh, I'm surprised the owner of the card wasn't too embarrassed to
come forward. Do Channel Ten Adelaide pay people well for ridiculing
them on local television, or is it a public service?
J D Leister
> Malcolm Taylor <mvta...@adslmember.on.net> wrote:
>
> > Hoax or not, it was reported on Ten News Adelaide. As reported, it was
> > not the ATM which requested the re-entry of the PIN, but a "helpful"
> > person who approached the person using the ATM and suggested how they
> > could retrieve their card (by re-entering the PIN while the scammer
> > watched). This, of course did not work and the owner of the card left.
> > The scammer then retrieved the card after the owner left and used it
> > with the PIN they saw the owner enter.
>
> This has _got_ to be an urban legend... Nobody's _that_ stupid - not
> even Matthew Hoodgear or whatever he calls himself nowadays.
>
> Sheesh, I'm surprised the owner of the card wasn't too embarrassed to
> come forward. Do Channel Ten Adelaide pay people well for ridiculing
> them on local television, or is it a public service?
>
> Alex.
Probably both
Mark
"Craig Welch" <cr...@pacific.net.sg> wrote in message
news:r84neukgc9mj6cchk...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 22 May 2002 21:13:28 +1000, "Mark" <What are killfiles??!!>
> wrote:
>
> >I agree with you here Anthony. I received this hoax email about 6 weeks
ago.
> >I sure as hell didn't see it on the news today either.
>
>
> Any reason why you didn't snip the quoted text?
>
> --
> Craig
Any reason why you felt the need to post this shit?
xulon
spake thusly:
>On Wed, 22 May 2002 18:04:04 +1000, "Katharine S"
><kath...@nospamoptushome.com.au> wrote:
>
>>Btw are you sure this is from ANZ? It's a worry if even they call it a "PIN
>>number"...
>
>My local ANZ branch was running some form of promotion, and they had
>signs on the wall which included 'PIN number'. I tried to discuss
>it, but no-one could understand what I was saying.
>
I once had a company send me a "personalised PIN number".
Anyone managed a "personalised identifying PIN number"? ;-)
David
--
Remove part of the eggplant to reply
Sir Oran
>On Wed, 22 May 2002 18:04:04 +1000, "Katharine S"
><kath...@nospamoptushome.com.au> wrote:
>
>>Btw are you sure this is from ANZ? It's a worry if even they call it a "PIN
>>number"...
>
>My local ANZ branch was running some form of promotion, and they had
>signs on the wall which included 'PIN number'. I tried to discuss
>it, but no-one could understand what I was saying.
"PIN number" is a perfectly legitimate expression. Yes, it's a
redundancy, but in this instance the redundancy is required for clear
expression of the idea. If people went around talking about their
"pin", half the time people would wonder what the hell they were
talking about, because "pin" happens to be a common everyday word.
(And half the ATMs would be busted every week by elderly people
sticking pins into them.)
"ATM machine", on the other hand...
--
Sir Oran
We love television because television brings us a world in which
television does not exist. In fact, deep in their hearts, this is what
the spuds crave most: a rich, new, participatory life.
(Barbara Ehrenreich)
Sir Oran
>This has _got_ to be an urban legend... Nobody's _that_ stupid - not
>even Matthew Hoodgear or whatever he calls himself nowadays.
Be well groomed, wear a suit, and wait for an old person. Like candy
from a baby...
(NB: The message above is entirely rhetorical, ironic, satirical and
other sophisticated forms of non-literal expression, and is not an
inducement to commit a crime.
A bit like that article about "How to steal from shops" that got that
uni paper pulped in the 1990s. Doubtless it too was a satirical
framework for exposing the social prejudices of shop workers, who will
always, for instance, grab the "shabby" looking person if the e-m
sensor alarm goes off when a well-dressed person and a shabby looking
person are leaving the store. I used to see this in practice in the
early 90s, when I had 8 hours between lectures several days a week for
a year, and spent a lot of time in shops. Some guy in a nice suit
would go into a shop and load his briefcase with stuff, and then
discreetly wait by the door until a long haired unshaven guy left the
shop. Sometimes that guy was me.)
Mark
> On Thu, 23 May 2002 20:34:33 +1000, "Mark" <Kill your
> killfile..HaHa> wrote:
>
> >> >I agree with you here Anthony. I received this hoax email about 6
weeks
> >ago.
> >> >I sure as hell didn't see it on the news today either.
> >>
> >> TFS.
> >>
> >> Any reason why you didn't snip the quoted text?
>
>
> to keep newsgroups readable.
>
> --
> Craig
7 --- --- --- Craig Welch............... 66 17 35.3% 1.9% 1.1%
Oh, you're calling me a newbie....LMAO
Alex
> On Thu, 23 May 2002 08:47:30 GMT, Alex <al...@leng.zip.com.au> wrote:
>>This has _got_ to be an urban legend... Nobody's _that_ stupid - not
>>even Matthew Hoodgear or whatever he calls himself nowadays.
> Be well groomed, wear a suit, and wait for an old person. Like candy
> from a baby...
The only problem I have with this explanation is that older people -
regardless of any reticence to use newer banking methods (ATMs,
Internet, Phone banking) - _aren't stupid_ . To have received (and
used) an ATM card, the customer would have been told on more than one
occasion about the importance of the PIN and not to disclose or allow
anyone else to see it. In my experience (both personal and professional
as an ex-bank employee) older people are _more_ rather than _less_
secretive regarding account security.
> A bit like that article about "How to steal from shops" that got that
> uni paper pulped in the 1990s. Doubtless it too was a satirical
> framework for exposing the social prejudices of shop workers, who will
> always, for instance, grab the "shabby" looking person if the e-m
> sensor alarm goes off when a well-dressed person and a shabby looking
> person are leaving the store. I used to see this in practice in the
> early 90s, when I had 8 hours between lectures several days a week for
> a year, and spent a lot of time in shops. Some guy in a nice suit
> would go into a shop and load his briefcase with stuff, and then
> discreetly wait by the door until a long haired unshaven guy left the
> shop. Sometimes that guy was me.)
Then the security people were lazy or stupid (probably both). If the store
didn't care about the quality of their personnel and training, then they
deserved to lose stock to shoplifters[1].
Alex.
[1] Or "shop-stealers" if you prefer the newer (and far stupider) term.
Anthony Horan
@nospamoptushome.com.au says...
> It may be a 'hoax' in terms of the way he got the info, and who it's
> purportedly from, but as per the snoops reference you gave, it isn't a hoax
> in terms of it actually happening.
I defy anyone to provide a technical explanation as to HOW it could happen.
As others have pointed out, the way ATMs work - at least, the way the ones we
have in Australia work - such a scam is impossible.
- Anthony
lea b
"Mark" <Kill your killfile..HaHa> wrote ...
> "Craig Welch" <> wrote ...
> > "Mark" <Kill your killfile..HaHa> wrote:
> >
> > >> >I agree with you here Anthony. I received this hoax email about 6
weeks ago.
> > >> >I sure as hell didn't see it on the news today either.
> > >>
> > >> TFS.
> > >>
> > >> Any reason why you didn't snip the quoted text?
> >
> > >Any reason why you felt the need to post this shit?
> >
> > Yes. Newbies need to be instructed in the ways of Usenet. It helps
> > to keep newsgroups readable.
> >
> > --
> > Craig
>
> 7 --- --- --- Craig Welch............... 66 17 35.3% 1.9% 1.1%
>
> Oh, you're calling me a newbie....LMAO
err... because he hasn't been in aus.tv for the past 4 weeks ?!
Sir Oran
>Sir Oran <dan...@bigblue.net.au> wrote:
Re ATM scams of dubious authenticity
>> Be well groomed, wear a suit, and wait for an old person. Like candy
>> from a baby...
>
>The only problem I have with this explanation is that older people -
>regardless of any reticence to use newer banking methods (ATMs,
>Internet, Phone banking) - _aren't stupid_ . To have received (and
>used) an ATM card, the customer would have been told on more than one
>occasion about the importance of the PIN and not to disclose or allow
>anyone else to see it. In my experience (both personal and professional
>as an ex-bank employee) older people are _more_ rather than _less_
>secretive regarding account security.
Never underestimate the power of grooming, clothing and authoritative
speech in times of stress. An elderly person may be fairly security
conscious at the best of times, but when the machine doesn't work
properly and here's someone standing behind them, they'll get into a
dither. If that person standing behind them offers assistance and
seems to know what he's (or even better, she's) talking about, they'll
go along with it at least half the time. I'd... ummm... guess.
(Don't worry, I'm neither well groomed nor well spoken, and hence
quite incapable of carrying out such an act, even if I had the desire
to do so.)
Re How to steal from shops... as observed but certainly not
recommended by Sir Oran and his legal advisers, as it would be wicked.
>Then the security people were lazy or stupid (probably both). If the store
>didn't care about the quality of their personnel and training, then they
>deserved to lose stock to shoplifters[1].
This scam is used exclusively in shops that are too small to have
security people - generally just one or two sales assistants behind a
counter. I dare say the scammers case the place in advance
sufficiently well to identify any store dicks, if any. (Go into the
store unshaven, uncombed, and wearing a big black coat: the store dick
is the member of the public who always seems to be browsing within
three meters of you.)
The sad followup to the story is that on each of the occasions that
someone tried to involve me in this (ie by leaving the shop with a
briefcase loaded with books and videos at the same time as I left the
shop, making the alarm go off) nothing happened at all. The first time
I actually stopped, knowing what had gone down, but realising it was
me they'd be after, and preferring to come quietly than be tackled...
and nothing. After a few seconds of trying to make eye contact with
one of the shop assistants, I just shrugged and went on my way.