ATM Theft

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bermyboy

Bronze
Dec 13, 2007
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Hello everyone first off be careful 2000$ US was stolen from my debit card 3 weeks ago.I was using a Banco Popular ATM at Ocean Dreams here in Cabarete. The machine acted like it took my card and never gave it back 1 hour later I check my account money gone.
Now my bank in Bermuda wants a police report and the police here in Cabarete are tryinig to charge me 10,000 peso for the report.
What options do I have? I refuse to pay for something that is free but I know how the police are especially here.
thanks
 
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jeloki

New member
Dec 20, 2006
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This also happened to my husband, while on holidays in Puerta Plata.He put his bank card into a machine at the Plaza,the one that belongs to the bank there.He hadn't even put his pin# and the machine told him to call the # to the bank, as it took his card.He called the # where they told him to come back to the bank, during banking hours to retrieve his card(this happened Sat. evening) Monday am, he went to the bank, to get his card,To late, no card and over $4000.00 taken from his account! Lesson learned,he should have cancelled his card, but was just worried as then he had no way to get cash.And also not worried, because he hadn't used pin# .
 
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Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
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www.rockysbar.com
bermyboy said:
Hello everyone first off be careful 2000$ US was stolen from my debit card 3 weeks ago.I was using a Banco Popular ATM at Ocean Dreams here in Cabarete. The machine acted like it took my card and never gave it back 1 hour later I check my account money gone.
Now my bank in Bermuda wants a police report and the police here in Cabarete are tryinig to charge me 10,000 peso for the report.
What options do I have? I refuse to pay for something that is free but I know how the police are especially here.
thanks
Click to expand...
Try to get an employee from the hotel to go to the cop shop with you to get the report.
500 pesos should be enough, certainly not 10,000.
 
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sascha

New member
Oct 4, 2007
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what a horrible situation! i work for a financial instituation in canada and deal with (debit card) fraud investigations and i see this kind of thing all the time :( unfortunately there isnt much anyone can do except ensure that you contact your bank ASAP and get the card cancelled. waiting to contact a rep at the bank that owns the ATM often is a waste of time and usually by then, the damage is done. i hope it all works out...let us know what happens.
 
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Sharky

New member
Feb 28, 2008
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I like this country but every where you turn there is thieves, please lets learn from these people mistakes. It seems that trust of anything here is a mistake, what a shame! I feel for you guys that have lost thousands. Remember if you shew gum don't open to wide cause somebody will steel it. Have a great day!
 
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sascha

New member
Oct 4, 2007
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when i was in SD last month, i noticed that there were warnings on every ATM i used about not allowing any one to input your PIN or "help" you with the machine if your card is captured etc... this is a problem in a lot of countries, not just the DR, so im thinking that a person's best course of action is again to call their own bank and get their card cancelled right away.

i always try keep an extra bank card and credit card with me when i travel just in case situations like this come up.
 
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Ricardo900

Silver
Jul 12, 2004
3,269
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I personally avoid using the ATMs that take in your card for the transaction. I frequent the ones that you have to swipe.
 
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sascha

New member
Oct 4, 2007
254
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good call!

Ricardo900 said:
Maybe a sticky could be created with locations and names of banks with ATMs that only require a "swipe" to access the account.
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great suggestions richardo900! a sticky would be a great way to share that info and hopefully reduce the amount of incidents of this type of fraud. i will be sure to keep note of any "swipe only" ATMs the next time im in SD.
 
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Ricardo900

Silver
Jul 12, 2004
3,269
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Chris said:
Perhaps a sticky with ATM's with no problems. Rather the positive than the negative .. :glasses:
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Sounds good. It will also help if next to the name of the bank and location, a section for whether they "swipe" to access or the other way. I myself had a bank card "eaten" by an ATM.
 
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Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
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I'm trying really hard to understand the logic here. I can understand a list of swipe vs. enter card to share that info but ATMs either with or without problems are not set in stone :cheeky:. There are those about which the historical problems are known, but for those 'without problems' it doesn't mean that someone couldn't set up a skimming routine any day, so what would be the point of a list?

Either don't use or enter the bank during working hours & do the transaction inside.
 
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Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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www.caribbetech.com
The logic is simple. Some ATMs are 'really hungry' and others are not so hungry. Don't know if it has to do with the staff in certain banks or other reasons. First time I had an ATM eat a card, I was so green I stuck in another one and the 2nd one also got eaten. Later on I found out that that specific ATM frequently exhibits extreme hunger.
 
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Ricardo900

Silver
Jul 12, 2004
3,269
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Since more and more tourists are deciding to opt out of bringing travellers checks and going with their bank cards, the idea of having a list of "swipe and "non-swipe" could be beneficial. It could mean disaster if your one and only bank card is eaten by an ATM and you have to scramble for other sources of money.
 
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sascha

New member
Oct 4, 2007
254
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Ricardo900 said:
Since more and more tourists are deciding to opt out of bringing travellers checks and going with their bank cards, the idea of having a list of "swipe and "non-swipe" could be beneficial. It could mean disaster if your one and only bank card is eaten by an ATM and you have to scramble for other sources of money.
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i agree. yes its true that card skimming technology can be placed on any ATM at any time anywhere in the world but like chris said, it could have something to do with staff at the bank where a card was captured so if we can compile a list of "swipe only" machines it could help reduce the number of victims of this type of fraud.

on a side note...banks and financial institutions in canada are more than willing to give clients their money back if a person was found to be a victim of debit card skimming or card fraud via deception (card being captured and used by a staff member at the bank where the card was taken etc...) so they would be covered in that way but again, using "swipe only" ATMs and cancelling your card when it has been captured are great ways to help reduce the risk.
 
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jeloki

New member
Dec 20, 2006
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Yes, thankfully our bank in Canada did cover the fraud,the theive was withdrawing $ the exact moment we were cancelling the bank card. It still makes you very uneasy. The part that baffels me is that every transaction, was made at the same bank machine at the plaza,4 to 5 transactions a day, until the exact amount of his daily limit were taken, sooo the last transactions on each different day were $6.92 $7.84 and $9.34 to my recollection, the lowest denomination at the bank machine that you can withdraw is 500 pesos.HMMMM. Anyways it's gone to interpole,hopefully they will catch them.
 
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CFA123

Silver
May 29, 2004
3,512
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jeloki,
same thing my friend ran into... it's been a few months, but his entire balance was wiped clean in equal withdrawals of xxxx pesos at a time
 
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