ATM robbery, true or false?

frogstamper · 03-09-2008, 00:44

I was recently told by a friend at work that say some robber made you withdraw cash from the ATM machine, there is a covert way of alerting the police.
Apparently if your pin number is say 1234 all you do is enter it in reverse 4321, doing this still allows you to get your money but also makes the police aware you are doing this under duress.
To be honest I was sceptical to say the least, but apparently this was broadcast on crime-stoppers a few weeks ago...has anybody else ever heard of this?

danielf · 03-09-2008, 00:51

Nope, and I'd be surprised if it is true.

03-09-2008, 00:55

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/atm-911.htm

**Russ** · 03-09-2008, 01:01

Good idea in theory?

frogstamper · 03-09-2008, 01:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by David F

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/atm-911.htm

Cheers Zing, its good to see that some of us are on the ball.

LondonRoad · 03-09-2008, 09:07

What if your pin was a palindromic number e.g. 2552?

Raistlin · 03-09-2008, 09:14

http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp

**Derek** · 03-09-2008, 10:44

http://www.cardwatch.org.uk/faqs.asp...=35&Title=FAQs

Quote:

In an emergency situation you should always call 999.

Quite how you would do this covertly seems to have escaped them.

LondonRoad · 03-09-2008, 10:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek S

http://www.cardwatch.org.uk/faqs.asp...=35&Title=FAQs

Quite how you would do this covertly seems to have escaped them.

First, you convince the robber that you bank with BT
Second, You convince the robber that they cleverly disguise their ATMs as telephone boxes...

**Kymmy** · 03-09-2008, 10:55

Tell me about it, in late 90's I got grabbed by two guys, one held a knfe to me whilst the other one cycled off with my card to the local ATM, I gave them the wrong number and if I had a phone with me to ring 999 I'm sure that they would have walked away with that instead of a worthless card...

In the end I did the panic routine, curled up into a ball screaming "Don't kill me" and the one left behind ran off...

punky · 03-09-2008, 10:58

If the scheme is implemented, how long is the criminal going to wait around for? Even if there is a car in the next street, the time take for all the information to be processed, fed down the line to the car and driven over will take a minimum of 2 mins. The areas that the police need to cover can be quite large. It can take 5-10 minutes to drive across after the call is received.

Is it a mugger really going to wait around up to 10 mins to be caught?

Tightscot · 03-09-2008, 11:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by harmitage

First, you convince the robber that you bank with BT
Second, You convince the robber that they cleverly disguise their ATMs as telephone boxes...

and third, you convince the robber that your PIN is 999

Saaf_laandon_mo · 03-09-2008, 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tightscot

and third, you convince the robber that your PIN is 999

Everyone has forgotten the main flaw in this...finding a working telephone box, lol

**Rob** · 03-09-2008, 11:41

Just fluff the entry of your Pin No into the machine three times, and the robber would be foiled as your card would be retained by the ATM

**Russ** · 03-09-2008, 11:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

Just fluff the entry of your Pin No into the machine three times, and the robber would be foiled as your card would be retained by the ATM

Thing is though this might frustrate your attacker in to doing something pretty drastic and I'd rather not risk that.

I've never been in this situation but I've always thought the best option is to just comply. More chance of survival that way.