Automatic teller machines aren’t yet prepared to doublecross would-be thieves, despite an e-mail circulating to the contrary.
The e-mail states: “If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Personal Identification Number in reverse.
“For example, if your PIN number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.”
The scenario is a work in progress.
“They haven’t got that yet,” said Connie Cahoone, senior vice president of First Community Bank. “That’s something they’ve talked about and are working on, but they’re not there yet. I really wish it were true.”
Cahoone said that talk about the new technology has come more from banking industry outsiders rather than vendors and other insiders, who normally would be promoting the product if it were available now.
Once the technology is in place, she said, the ATMs would need to be upgraded and the police department would have to have compatible technology.
“As soon as it’s available, we’ll be letting people know,” Cahoone said. “It’ll be a very important thing.”
Joseph_Zingher (anonymous) says...
I am the inventor of the ATM SafetyPIN System. In point of fact, all that is needed is the decision to go ahead and install the software. Since the police already have telephones, they already have all the technology they need to use the system. The typical ATM crime begins as a carjacking from a parking lot or as a home invasion, as was the case with the Quadruple Homicide in Wichita. Once the criminal learns there is more cash in the account, the victim is taken to a remote location and executed. The body is hidden and the killer simply cleans out the account using the victim's ATM card and PIN. IF the body is found, then a search warrant issues and the police check the bank records. Shortly after the Carr Brothers' rampage in Wichita, I publicly offered the system to the people of Wichita but the banks declined to respond to the offer. I note with sorrow that there was another murder reported recently in the Wichita Eagle. There are no on-going efforts to install the system anywhere. But, the murders are continuing. One bank lawyer put it to me this way. "Why should we care how many murders there are?" If you don't understand why you should care, then no one can explain it to you.
January 16, 2007 at 4:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hottopics (anonymous) says...
I think that any up to date security if reliable and safe to the consumer should be addressed and considered. We still have all kinds of theives and hackers accessing peoples accounts without a gun to the back as well. If this will save lives and deturant a would be thief/killer even once it should be worth it to me and my banking institution.
January 16, 2007 at 9:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Joseph_Zingher (anonymous) says...
Tell them that. One man trying to take on the US banking industry is the very definition of "powerless." You'll find if you go online and do some research, that experts and spokesmen keep coming up with differing answers that often conflict. Having been a policeman, I can tell that when someone keeps changing their story, they're lying.
January 19, 2007 at 9:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )