How safe are atms?

18cc

The safest way to withdraw money is to actually visit your branch and go to the till and request it. you will also need to hire two security guards with full protective gear to escort you home.

Vortigern

Don't use the free-standing machines you find in pubs and convenience stores. They'll probably charge you.

Murmansk

I've been using cash machines since about 1977 when the cash was folded up in a plastic clip that came down a shoot, you had to put the clip back into another hole and the card had a little dot burned onto it by a hot pin in the machine. Once you'd got ten or twenty dots the card had to be replaced!

I've never had a problem with an ATM in my life - maybe I've been lucky!

huw01

You can always withdraw funds over the counter at any post office using most bank debits cards these days. That!!!8217;s how I usually get cash these days, because the nearby shop is also a post office and the post office counter is open most days. It saves me having to find a parking spot in town to use an ATM machine. Post office counter withdrawals are via chip n pin terminals and they hand you the cash over the counter

DCFC79

venomx wrote: »

I;ve heard about " skimmers " and paranoid i'll get scammed

Ive used tonnes of ATM's and not been scammed/skimmed. When you approach the machine your check the machine, does it look odd eg is the cover loose. If you want to be extra safe use 1 inside a bank, shopping centre.

As for the thread title, they are safe if certain precautions are made.

Robin9

venomx wrote: »

I;ve heard about " skimmers " and paranoid i'll get scammed

But Venomix you are the same person who wants to go cashless - what do you want to use ATM's for?

meer53

I think ATM's are pretty low on the list of things you should be worried about.

Brewer20

It's the people who use them, are they safe?


On social media today in our local area someone asked "please look out for a sum of money at the Asda cash machine, I forgot to take it when I withdrew it.

Tallaght

I always use ATMS inside my local bank instead of outside.There has been a couple of local supermarket outside ATMS that had skimmers though.

JuicyJesus

They're about as safe as safe can be, really. Skimmers are rare, especially on machines owned by banks.

If it really worries you, don't use cash, because you're more likely to drop a tenner somewhere and lose it forever than to get your card skimmed, which your bank will refund anyway.