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is it safe to use the banks cashpoint machine

My bank has an outside cash point? Are they really safe from scammers do the banks check them out?
:footie:
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Comments

  • tomterm8
    tomterm8 Posts: 5,892 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    There are several scams that involve cash point machines, and frankly, whacking you over the head after you have taken the money out is the most worrying one. While banks do their best to check out there machines, it is normally best to use a machine inside a bank if you can.
    “The ideas of debtor and creditor as to what constitutes a good time never coincide.”
    ― P.G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens
  • red_devil
    red_devil Posts: 10,793 Forumite
    my bank dosent have an inside one?

    Do they check them i know if i ask them they will say yes. But do they?
    :footie:
  • bendix
    bendix Posts: 5,499 Forumite
    red_devil wrote: »
    My bank has an outside cash point? Are they really safe from scammers do the banks check them out?


    Are you for real?

    Is it safe to use a cashpoint machine?

    My God, if you're worried about that I wonder how you gather the courage to get out of bed in the morning.
  • tomterm8
    tomterm8 Posts: 5,892 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Like most things in life, it isn't completly safe. Ultimately, where it is a case of fraud, the bank is responsible and you aren't as long as you take appropriate steps such as not disclosing your pin. You can also take out insurance to protect yourself if you are particularly woried. Using cash machines out of hours is a higher risk, but there are tens of thousands of cash machines out there, so they can't all be checked every day, and if criminals install a device, it will only stay on the machine for a few hours before they take it off again.

    Honestly, though, Banks are well aware of the problems, and as crimes go, it is pretty rare and not worth too much thought.
    “The ideas of debtor and creditor as to what constitutes a good time never coincide.”
    ― P.G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens
  • red_devil
    red_devil Posts: 10,793 Forumite
    bendix wrote: »
    Are you for real?

    Is it safe to use a cashpoint machine?

    My God, if you're worried about that I wonder how you gather the courage to get out of bed in the morning.

    how rude. I have recently been scammed and am now wondering the safest places to use the card. Have you anything useful to say.
    :footie:
  • johnmoney05
    johnmoney05 Posts: 1,484 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Honestly, I feel the same as OP every time I need to use the ATM, but nothing guaranteed safe. Just check carefully the card slot and cover up when you key in the pin.
  • I feel more reassured that a cashpoint at / outside a bank is more likely to have CCTV than one in a side street somewhere else. No guarantees, though.
  • ceh209
    ceh209 Posts: 877 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    I think the OP is possibly trying to ask the question:

    Is an ATM outside a bank safer than a 'random' ATM somewhere else?

    i.e. does bank security make it harder to make fake fronts to ATMs, will there always be CCTV etc
    Excuse any mis-spelt replies, there's probably a cat sat on the keyboard
  • mick307
    mick307 Posts: 41 Forumite
    bendix wrote: »
    Are you for real?

    Is it safe to use a cashpoint machine?

    My God, if you're worried about that I wonder how you gather the courage to get out of bed in the morning.

    I always thought the point of having your mittens joined by elastic up your sleeves was so you cant use a keyboard, seems someones found a way round it.


    To the op, a quick visual check is all that needed. If you look at the top rail, above the keypad and see some sort of small hole dont use it and report it. The other option is to use your wallet, purse, handbag, coat to cover the keypad. That will stop a camera seeing what youre pin is.
    Ive never seen a bank employee checking the machine, theres not enough of them nowadays to run the place, let alone offer a service to the customer.

    Mick.
  • bendix
    bendix Posts: 5,499 Forumite
    red_devil wrote: »
    how rude. I have recently been scammed and am now wondering the safest places to use the card. Have you anything useful to say.


    i don't mean to be rude, but come on - there are 2 million machies around the world, doing half a billion transactions a day. They've been around for over 40 years. How have we managed all this time until now?

    Of course things can happen. Of course nothing is ever completely failsafe, but of all the things to worry about this would be pretty low on the list.

    Getting struck by lightning, on the other hand . .
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