Banco Popular ATM fraud in Sosua

AlfromTexas said:

Anyone who would like copies of the photos of the ATM with the access hole allowing to connect the controlling telephone line, you need only PM me and I will e-mail them to you.
Thank you, Al.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear you had a few problems. If you email them to me I will post them in this thread. Email: robert@dr1.com

ATM machine viewed from the outside




Hole thru which you can access the telephone line




Inside view showing the telephone line

These photos really do not surprise me.

If you go to the ATM machines in the car park at La Sirena (Churchil - Santo Domingo) they have sat the Cisco ATM routers and telephone boxes on top of the ATM's. You can just unplug them or tap into them, very easy.

For someone that wants to hack into the transactions taking place, it is way too easy. In fact I'm sure any decent ATM hacker would think he was being set up as the access is so easy.

Robert said:

These photos really do not surprise me.

If you go to the ATM machines in the car park at La Sirena (Churchil - Santo Domingo) they have sat the Cisco ATM routers and telephone boxes on top of the ATM's. You can just unplug them or tap into them, very easy.

For someone that wants to hack into the transactions taking place, it is way too easy. In fact I'm sure any decent ATM hacker would think he was being set up as the access is so easy.

Click to expand...

So what do we look for to know that an ATM is safe?

Unfricking beleivable! Is the bank blind? If that's the same ATM machine that I've used in the past it's just outside the bank. Same building. What would their explaination be to have a big hole on their property?

Incompetent bankers.

Robert said:

These photos really do not surprise me.

If you go to the ATM machines in the car park at La Sirena (Churchil - Santo Domingo) they have sat the Cisco ATM routers and telephone boxes on top of the ATM's. You can just unplug them or tap into them, very easy.

For someone that wants to hack into the transactions taking place, it is way too easy. In fact I'm sure any decent ATM hacker would think he was being set up as the access is so easy.

Click to expand...

When Al told me yesterday morning what had happened, I grabbed him and drove over to the bank.
They gave me so much run-around, that you could tell they were trying to hide something, and yet, dumb as stumps that they are, the hole in the wall was still there for us to take pictures today.
I suppose they will get to it before Christmas.
As I have been doing business with them for 13 years, I usually send tourists there. Now they're on my black list, and there they will remain until they make proper restitution to Al or facilitate his claim in the US.
Marco.

Not blind

Anna Coniglio said:

Unfricking beleivable! Is the bank blind? If that's the same ATM machine that I've used in the past it's just outside the bank. Same building. What would their explaination be to have a big hole on their property?

Click to expand...

Just doing everything they can to not make good for their incompetence and exibiting their "devil may care" attitude towards their clients.
Anybody have any good ideas on how to really make their lives miserable, I'm open to suggestions.

Popular

Report all incl. pictures to the local press.

superglue their door locks!

I read it here, right here on DR1. couple weeks ago.

LOL

Rocky said:

Just doing everything they can to not make good for their incompetence and exibiting their "devil may care" attitude towards their clients.
Anybody have any good ideas on how to really make their lives miserable, I'm open to suggestions.

Click to expand...

Typical careless dominican attitude. Don't worry, be happy. :classic: Don't we all just love it?

I enjoyed the idea with the liquid metal (Coqui), someone mentioned some weeks ago, can't remember if it was HB or CC or so...
It may not be a great help to solve the problem, but may help to relief a bit.

Oooops, Conchman okay, I was too slow....

unbelievable!

Al, I'm so very sorry to hear this... didn't know until Marc directed me here a few minutes ago.

In my hometown some teens once repainted the water tower sign to read Beer River, not Deep River.

If you like, I'll repaint the sign to: Banco Unpopular.

Dawn

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Read here::::



<<<<<-----INSIDE JOB-->>>>>

That's the reason behind the run-around to your questions and findings by the bank's supervisory. Contact the main bank offices in the DR and send them the actual pics and a transcript of your dealings with the individuals in charge at such terminal. They'll investigate and you will notice a change of personnel in the comming weeks if not days.

A bank's reputation it's very fragile right now in the DR and they'll do their best to safeguard it!

An English contact of mine had a similar problem getting a Police Report from the Sosua station some 3 years ago. They refused to give her a report saying it wasn't their responsibility to make out a report. I took her to the British Consulate here in Puerto Plata & the Consular Agent (The Hon Consol is generally out of the country in Miami!!!) rang the Sosua station & told them to write out a report for my contact, when she called there the following day. .......... They did it like lambs!!!

Have a word with Bill Kirkman (or his son if he has now taken over) & TELL him you expect some form of Consular assistance at getting the police to write your report!! I am sure a telephone call to the police in Sosua will get the desired help/assistance you require!! Try to get him to talk to the bank too & suggest they facilitate your claim to your own bank Head Office!!!

If you can get to the ATM when no-one else is around, try a brief note in English & Spanish stating that "This ATM is open to fraud by Bank Staff & others as yet unknown. Suggest you use an alternative ATM AND Bank in future!!). Alternatively, find out how to "Hack into" the ATM yourself, wait for a bank employee to make a transaction & then take money to the value of RD $50,000 (your RD $55,000 less the RD $5,000 you did actually withdraw) out of THEIR account. Should produce some reaction somewhere in the chain!!!

Good luck & keep us informed!! - Grahame.

Darn.. this is scary stuff...

This is really scary stuff.. people tapping out from ATM machines, stupid and irresponsible bank clerks, uncaring and corrupt policemen... I will have to get enough cash to avoid having to go to the bank (and hope I will not get robbed). Since I heard that credit card fraud is also pretty common.. there's no alternative. No reason to get paranoid, but ... very very careful :bandit:

Is change impossible?

Al is not the only one. There must have been dozens of people robbed by this scam. At some point, it's up to the people to inforce standards, whether it's excessive noise, garbage, theft, whatever, Sosua is too nice a place to tolerate moronic, self destructive behavior. Are there any civic organizations in Sosua like a chamber of commerce or concerned citizens groups? Glueing locks and just getting your money back seem like temporary solutions at best. Sure it's the DR, but Sosua is it's own little world and deserves better. - D

I can't hold me tongue any longer..............

In the more than 10 years that I have lived here, I have seen myself, friends, my employees etc ripped off by Banco Popular at almost every ATM machine, rangeing from POP, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Barahona and Neyba.

The bank will do absolutely nothing. At the Texaco in POP closest to Zona Franca, people will put some type of tape over the hole, actually paint it silver like the machine and then wait for you to get your card stuck in it. When you go to get help, they will somehow pull the card out, somehow know the PIN and then withdraw money from other ATM's with your card. THE TEXACO WATCHMAN SITS RIGHT THERE and watches as he says it is not his problem, since he works for the gas station and not the bank.

The bank in POP has lines of people daily complaining about the machines to no avail. They even know what happened to you when you go in, IE the tape scheme, and say "oh yes" , it happened to many people over the weekend. BUT IT CONTINUES. THEY WILL NEVER PAY YOU BACK A DIME.

Sometimes it will say it gave you the money and won't, but takes it out of your account and then when you complain they say you got the money.

I have solved the problem for all my friends and employees by making them get at least 2 cash card accounts, if not more. Then I set them up on internet banking with Banco Popular, even though most of them can't use the computer, and I have access to it. They put away the card from the main account and never use it. Then transfer only enough money that they think they need for a while into the 2nd account. IF THEY EVER HAVE A PROBLEM AT THE ATM AGAIN (WHICH HAS HAPPENED) they call me, (they all make it a habit of having their cell phone with them when they go to the ATM) and I transfer the money OUT of the account of the card they used at the ATM into the other account until the problem is resolved. THEN, noone can get the money with or without the card, since there is none in the account.

It's just like the rest of this country. You have to have your own watchmen in order to keep from getting robbed, YOU never want to be in a position to call the police after you've been robbed, cause all they'll do is find out what you have left and come back and rob the rest later. SAME goes for the ATM's .......you have to have your OWN PROTECTION.

I Doubt this Phone line story

ATM's use a hardware encryption device at the keypad to send your PIN once hashed with the public key of your bank which it receives once you put the card in and before you start the transaction.

The transmitted information if "tapped" is useless without the private key of the bank you are taking money from and thus anyone listening in. Something else happened here. Sometimes false front ATM's, sometimes card readers that take the stripe info combined with a camera watching the PIN (smurfing) , but tapping the phone line is not the way it works.

Excellent point..

Danny W said:

Al is not the only one. There must have been dozens of people robbed by this scam. At some point, it's up to the people to inforce standards, whether it's excessive noise, garbage, theft, whatever, Sosua is too nice a place to tolerate moronic, self destructive behavior. Are there any civic organizations in Sosua like a chamber of commerce or concerned citizens groups? Glueing locks and just getting your money back seem like temporary solutions at best. Sure it's the DR, but Sosua is it's own little world and deserves better. - D

Click to expand...

Well said, Danny.

Sosua has improved in leaps and bounds with regards to community spirit over the last few years. The level of cooperation and support amongst the ex-pats is beyond what I ever expected to see and we are managing to avoid a lot of problems through warning others about scams and those who perpetrate them.
What has not improved, is the capacity to do anything about it, when it happens.
When a police colonel looks me in the eye and tells me that since Al's ATM card was not stolen, that no crime has been commited, and that the only recourse is through civil action, I feel rather stonewalled.
DR1 has proved to be an invaluable tool for getting good suggestions and making contacts who can help resolve some of these problems.
Bushbaby's suggestions are excellent and I imagine Al will be in touch with the American Counsel.
Thank you Robert for posting those pics. Nothing tells the story better than seeing it clearly with your own eyes.

Now I understand why this happened:

"I discovered that there had been 5 more withdrawals, totaling 55,000 pesos, which I did not make. "

What proof is there that he did not make those withdrawals?

We're in a country which is economic trouble, and people aren't known for telling the truth. So they assume everyone is the same. No wonder the police didn't believe him.