ATM Robbery

goalpost · Postby **goalpost** » December 17th, 2019, 9:37 pm

Went Alexander Plaza in Arima & used an offsite ATM machine. Requested $2500.00, and then the machine went blank. It spit out my card a minute later and the screen read something with technical difficulties. Fine. Whatever.
Used the next machine & withdrew $1000.00 and went on my merry way.

Got an email alert that my account has been debited both the $2500.00 AND the $1000.00. So, these mudda so and so. Called customer service who put me on to Arima branch who told me wait ah two days and hopefully the system rectifies itself (whatever that means).

I reach home and went and check online and then noticed ANOTHER $2500.00 come out. The mini statement online telling me I take out $2500.00, $2500.00 and $1000.00. My balance reduced accordingly. I did not get an email alert for the SECOND $2500.00.

The bank telling me wait and see if it fixes overnight, but this thing bothering me. Anybody had previous experiences like this before?

pugboy · Postby **pugboy** » December 17th, 2019, 9:38 pm

Sounding like yuh card got skimmed by the first machine.

goalpost wrote:Went Alexander Plaza in Arima & used an offsite ATM machine. Requested $2500.00, and then the machine went blank. It spit out my card a minute later and the screen read something with technical difficulties. Fine. Whatever.
Used the next machine & withdrew $1000.00 and went on my merry way.

Got an email alert that my account has been debited both the $2500.00 AND the $1000.00. So, these mudda so and so. Called customer service who put me on to Arima branch who told me wait ah two days and hopefully the system rectifies itself (whatever that means).

I reach home and went and check online and then noticed ANOTHER $2500.00 come out. The mini statement online telling me I take out $2500.00, $2500.00 and $1000.00. My balance reduced accordingly. I did not get an email alert for the SECOND $2500.00.

The bank telling me wait and see if it fixes overnight, but this thing bothering me. Anybody had previous experiences like this before?

redmanjp · Postby **redmanjp** » December 17th, 2019, 9:41 pm

Which bank?

goalpost · Postby **goalpost** » December 17th, 2019, 9:42 pm

Republic

VexXx Dogg · Postby **VexXx Dogg** » December 17th, 2019, 9:54 pm

Call bank now. Stop / kill card. it's compromised

maj. tom · Postby **maj. tom** » December 17th, 2019, 9:59 pm

Well it could legit be a system error. Call the bank over and over tmrw to resolve it. 2 days my ass... But the online records updated instantly? They should have put a hold the card the first time you called.

zorced · Postby **zorced** » December 17th, 2019, 10:01 pm

Same thing happened at FCB Grand Bazaar ATM today except when the bank (Scotia) was called they informed us that it was a glitch and the transaction was automatically reversed to correct it. Whole ordeal was less than 15 minutes.

PariaMan · Postby **PariaMan** » December 18th, 2019, 12:06 am

Personally I doh trust cards I keep my money in FCB Abercrombie Fund which cannot be accessed by card

I do a mobile transfer to my Saving Account when I need cash and take out right away using linx card

Skimmers will get very little from me

j.o.e · Postby **j.o.e** » December 18th, 2019, 6:27 am

It’s an atm malfunction not a skim. In a day or two when they’re balancing the machine they’ll adjust your account

timothymcdavid · Postby **timothymcdavid** » December 18th, 2019, 7:04 am

Hmmm ... Sorry this happened to you but this happened to me also at RBC Trincity a while ago.

Withdrew 3k and in the end my balance and online checking said withdrew 12k ... one 3k transactions was reversed overnight.

As you can imagine tried calling the bank via phone ... usual crap so I went in. These folks told me up to 20 working days to get back my money after looking at the dude straight in the eye and not saying a thing for a few seconds he quickly said dont worry since it was in this branch it should be cleared up faster.

Situation was resolved in just over a week. It would have been worse if I was using another banks ATM this experience and another prior has confirmed to me only use your banks ATMs preferably your home branch.

My advise go into the bank talk to them.

abbow · Postby **abbow** » December 18th, 2019, 9:15 am

PariaMan wrote:Personally I doh trust cards I keep my money in FCB Abercrombie Fund which cannot be accessed by card

I do a mobile transfer to my Saving Account when I need cash and take out right away using linx card

Skimmers will get very little from me

Been doing this since online banking came around....encouraged many folks to do the same.

Using a VTM card as well instead of the regular cc's, reducing the chance of card fraud..

death365 · Postby **death365** » December 18th, 2019, 9:24 am

something like that happened to me with FCB atm and republic card. it said the money come out twice but none came out. it showed back up in the account in less than 24H.

redmanjp · Postby **redmanjp** » December 18th, 2019, 9:41 am

j.o.e wrote:It’s an atm malfunction not a skim. In a day or two when they’re balancing the machine they’ll adjust your account

afaik all RBL ATMs have cameras so any person inserting skimmers would be caught on camera- never the less i'd watch the machine carefully before using it as i've used that atm before

hydroep · Postby **hydroep** » December 18th, 2019, 9:45 am

This happened to a family member a long time ago: they lost $ 500.00 withdrawing from a Red ATM. Machine issued a receipt indicating the cash was dispensed but it wasn't . Bank said there was nothing they could do and all attempts at recovery failed.

Needless to say said person hasn't banked one Red cent with them since...

Premchand1976 · Postby **Premchand1976** » December 18th, 2019, 10:09 am

Happened at the airport terminal recently ...funds came back in after 48 hours

death365 wrote:something like that happened to me with FCB atm and republic card. it said the money come out twice but none came out. it showed back up in the account in less than 24H.

stev · Postby **stev** » December 18th, 2019, 2:27 pm

not necessarily a skimming situation, its called a transaction reversal loop....its common nowadays due to the fact that a lot of back end changes are being done by all financial institutions to incorporate the use of chip debit cards....it happens a lot with point of sale terminals as well.

keep following up with your bank in case I am wrong.

currently reversal loops are happening with FCB and Republic only....especially when using a non-FCB card on a FCB machine.

goalpost · Postby **goalpost** » December 18th, 2019, 9:41 pm

Ok so the transactions were reversed tonight. Apparently they did flag it or something after I had called them because someone called me to confirm that it was reversed & apologized.

So kudos to RBL.

Chimera · Postby **Chimera** » December 18th, 2019, 9:47 pm

Have an relative who lives abroad. Her bank statements go to a postbox.
She come down for a relative wedding and opening 9 mths worth of statements. Someone steal 8000 from her account 6 months ago when she was abroad. Bank tell her it too late to report that or do anything about it now.

EFFECTIC DESIGNS · Postby **EFFECTIC DESIGNS** » December 19th, 2019, 6:42 am

I tried calling the bank for different things over the years and what I have found out is you need $100 in phone cards to do so because apparently they don't even have a toll free number in 2019.....

Anybody knows if any of the local banks have a toll free number? I thinking of switching from Republic, their customer service is horrible beyond words.

Kenjo · Postby **Kenjo** » December 19th, 2019, 6:45 am

Phone Surgeon wrote:Have an relative who lives abroad. Her bank statements go to a postbox.
She come down for a relative wedding and opening 9 mths worth of statements. Someone steal 8000 from her account 6 months ago when she was abroad. Bank tell her it too late to report that or do anything about it now.

Yes I believe somewhere in the small print it has a time period unfortunately . I’m assuming she is an older person and doesn’t use online banking. It might be best as she is down here to get one of the younger relatives to set it up for her

maj. tom · Postby **maj. tom** » December 19th, 2019, 6:59 am

EFFECTIC DESIGNS wrote:I tried calling the bank for different things over the years and what I have found out is you need $100 in phone cards to do so because apparently they don't even have a toll free number in 2019.....

Anybody knows if any of the local banks have a toll free number? I thinking of switching from Republic, their customer service is horrible beyond words.

All the banks are the same at the end of the day. Don't feel Republic, or another bank that you're not with will be any different wrt to customer service, fees, transactions, forex, etc.

There are local 800 numbers, but i think they're only toll free on landline. Mobile you likely will still have to pay depending on which carrier you're with. RBC has an 800 number 800-1RBC (722).
Banks today are using online for most transactions, including help desks. They have a "contact us" page and you fill out your complaint and contact info and they'll get back to you.

And don't expect things to get better because TT banks have a reputation of treating their customers like the lowest hog pen refuse and still make immense profits every years. Just to prove this statement: lol@ banks closing 2pm everyday in Trinidad.

88sins · Postby **88sins** » December 19th, 2019, 7:40 am

maj. tom wrote:
EFFECTIC DESIGNS wrote:I tried calling the bank for different things over the years and what I have found out is you need $100 in phone cards to do so because apparently they don't even have a toll free number in 2019.....

Anybody knows if any of the local banks have a toll free number? I thinking of switching from Republic, their customer service is horrible beyond words.

All the banks are the same at the end of the day. Don't feel Republic, or another bank that you're not with will be any different wrt to customer service, fees, transactions, forex, etc.

There are local 800 numbers, but i think they're only toll free on landline. Mobile you likely will still have to pay depending on which carrier you're with. RBC has an 800 number 800-1RBC (722).
Banks today are using online for most transactions, including help desks. They have a "contact us" page and you fill out your complaint and contact info and they'll get back to you.

And don't expect things to get better because TT banks have a reputation of treating their customers like the lowest hog pen refuse and still make immense profits every years. Just to prove this statement: lol@ banks closing 2pm everyday in Trinidad.

iirc, 800-4RBC is NOT a toll free number.

Chimera · Postby **Chimera** » December 19th, 2019, 7:40 am

Yea she's 70
And she eh trust her kids to keep her atm card or have access to her account. So no online banking.

That's the reason mails going to a postbox too

Kenjo wrote:
Phone Surgeon wrote:Have an relative who lives abroad. Her bank statements go to a postbox.
She come down for a relative wedding and opening 9 mths worth of statements. Someone steal 8000 from her account 6 months ago when she was abroad. Bank tell her it too late to report that or do anything about it now.

Yes I believe somewhere in the small print it has a time period unfortunately . I’m assuming she is an older person and doesn’t use online banking. It might be best as she is down here to get one of the younger relatives to set it up for her