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"QUANTUM SHOT" #63


Protect your card and PIN!
See how easy it is for crooks to steal your money:


This is the original post, as written in December 2006
- translated from Italian (source) by Dark Roasted Blend


One surveillance camera in a bank in Italy has captured these images. They clearly show how easily you may be swindled out of your money, while banking at automatic teller (ATM)
Be on guard, and share this information with your friends!

The camera shows someone routinely making a bank deposit:

Banking Finance


but what this person actually doing
is inserting something in the machine:

Banking, Finance, Photography


to make sure that nobody catches him
tampering with the machine, he has
a friend outside to alert him:

Banking, Finance, Photography


Once the trap is set, the victim enters the bank:

Banking, Finance, Photography


He inserts the debit card into ATM, and it gets stuck there!
The victim is surprised: "Weird, maybe this machine is broken?"
He looks around for advice:

Banking, Finance, Photography


Luckily there is someone eager to help to get the card out.
What "the helper" is actually after is the P.I.N. code:

Banking, Finance, Photography


"The Good Samaritan" convinces the victim to try to enter the code again
(he may blame the faulty keypad, new type of the machine,
or claim to know the "secret unblocking code", etc.) -

Banking, Finance, Photography


However, the card remains stuck, no matter how many times he punches "Enter"
or "Cancel".
The exasperated victim leaves, realizing he will
have to get his card from the bank later. -

Banking, Finance, Photography


As soon as the victim is gone,
"the helper" returns to retrieve the card from the machine.
Now he's got both the card AND the P.I.N.. -
Banking, Finance, Photography


he withdraws the maximum amount of money
from all accounts on the card, and leaves. -

Banking, Finance, Photography


The inserted "card trap" is just a piece of black film,
which blends with black plastic of the ATM. -

Banking, Finance, Photography


The trap is inserted into the slot, with the ends slightly
sticking out and glued to the outside,
for an easy withdrawal afterwards. -

Banking, Finance, Photography


Once these ends are neatly glued in, it's nearly impossible to tell
if there is any foreign object in the slot. -

Banking, Finance, Photography


The trap film also has special notches,
to ensure that the card is not ejected by the machine
when the operation is canceled. -

Banking, Finance, Photography


Once the victim is gone, the crook unglues the tips of the trap
and "fishes out" the card.
DO NOT FALL FOR THESE TRAPS!
Never type your PIN in plain view of strangers. -

Banking, Finance, Photography

Thanks to Gianlucamat for this warning.
(Translated from Italian by A. Abrams)

UPDATE, December 25, 2006:
Think keeping money in ATM is too risky?
There is always an alternative, you know :)

Banking Finance

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YOUR COMMENTS::

22 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

how stupid can you be to let someone watch you enter the PIN?

___  
Blogger Unknown said...

lol, check the date on those CCTV images. . . The theives chose a good day to steal someone's credit card. :P

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Regarding the date . . . Nov 9, 2001 was a Friday as it shows on the date code on the picture. Sept 11, 2001 (9-11) was a Tuesday.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

how did you figure out the method though?

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

11/9/2001 in europe is November 9th, not september 11th. 11/9 was a friday...

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

11-9-2001 was a friday, which means this was a US teller IMO because Europe goes dd/mm/yy in most cases.

Looks very easy to do - add the spycam technology and a thief wouldnt even have to come "help"

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

I blame our public school system for society having so many stupid people.

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Blogger Chief RZ said...

anonymous-- That would depend on if you were an honest person or not. The criminal pictured here is a thief. The person at the ATM is a trusting person, brought up to trust other people.

One is a shameful thief, the other an honest person.
That is The Truth.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

first off to anonymous, youre a dumbass for what you said because the date is 11/09/01.. That is November 9th 2001 for the slow paced ones.. That was a Friday. I don't understand why people always try to find a fault and cry about it. anyway, i feel bad for the guy but as mentioned, you should never trust strangers ESPECIALLY around your money.. I know I don't, and nothing like thats ever happened to me, so tough break buddy.. you live and you learn

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

This could be just a demo of what did happen at that bank and how short the time frame it could take to do the job… protecting the innocent …….Notice the person at the end of the film is demonstrating the last steps to take the film out of the machine.
His hand looks the same as the so-called thief in the film above… Are the banks allowed to publish the actual film of a crime????? Privacy issues…….. Of course standards in European countries are different so who knows…… any way don’t “trip” it was just a thought… I personally hide my steps while entering information in an ATM whether there is someone there or not… I always think if the camera is looking at me then that is someone who potentially can see me enter my code depending on the angle of the camera…..Some times the people who have access to the film are not good people either. Hummmm.. get to that

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Blogger R Hubbard said...

I think the demostration is a valid message to show those who are trusting what may be could be happening. It appears that much of the comments are about the date and not the benefits, must be some morons out there.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

very interesting....i would never let a stranger help me with my cards at the ATM i would go to the bank immediately. Rebecca

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

It really happens. We just need to be careful. It's sad but there are lots of bad people i this world.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

i can't believe that there are people on here bitching about this information. the guy that wrote this post didnt have to write it but did just so that at least one or two of you would not be caught with this scam. I don't think its a question of how stupid you are to enter your pin infront of someone people do irrational things under certain situations. thanks for the info mate much appreciated :)

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for the information. It really help people to be more careful and cautious in the future.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info too. To those that think stupid people fall for it, I think its more a question of patience and frustration. If you need the money badly and someone walks over to offer help, I think in many circumstances people will "fall" for it.
At least one bank is kind enough to release this info. I've yet to see anything like this from banks in my area.

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Blogger Ron Del Rosario said...

I liked the picture with your cash tucked under the bed! hahaha =) Informative article!

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
11/9/2001 in europe is November 9th"

No it isn't, in Europe we write dates dd/mm/yyyy so:

11 = Eleventh
9 = September
2001 = er, 2001 ;-)

Writing the date yyyy/mm/dd or dd/mm/yyyy makes sense, I've never understood why anyone thinks that writing it mm/dd/yyyy is a good idea !

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep. No matter what, you shouldn't let someone see your pin. Its common sense. Some machines even have signs to remind you not to ask from help from strangers. If there is something wrong with the machine, call the bank. That's it. Its not about not being trusting, its just being sure.

Good post.

oh btw. its funny how you guys argue over a date lolz

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is a technique known as the "lebanese loop" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_loop

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, that's called a card trap. I read a case about it in a criminal law class. the case was from the mid or early 80s I believe. This type of thing has been going on in america since ATMs first appeared. I realize people are caught off guard by this but, anybody who puts their PIN in in front of a stranger in any situation is a fool.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

what's even more brilliant is that they just made a step by step guide for how to do this for any criminals that haven't heard of it yet.

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