I would usually withdraw my money in a ATM machines, there are times that I would shop until sun down and I need to withdraw money at night time going home, the place might spooky or so creepy not with monsters or ghosts but theft and some burglars. Even my sister warned me of that because there might be some people who would snatch my money at that very moment, from then on I would avoid withdrawing money in a dark place where a ATM machine is located.
Now, since Christmas is just around the corner, you must be aware that, thieves are striking again these seasons; BSP (
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) warned those cardholders to be more alert and have to watch out those thieves because they seemed to be kind and helpful when they approach you. They would victimized you even you withdraw inside shopping center, their
modus operandi is they would approach when the cardholder just finished her/his transactions, they would tell the victim that there is a 500 pesos bill stacked in the machine, then right after that, they suggest the victim to make a balance inquiry of his/her account if it has a deduction of 500 pesos, then the suspect would intently observed the PIN number that you had encoded in the cash machine, they would drop a bill and would claimed that it is from the machine, when the cardholder is busy picking up the money, they would switch the ATM card so quickly from the machine.
Another
modus operandi is what they called shoulder surfing, it is when the suspect stands close to the victim and will stealthily memorize the PIN number you encoded. The BSP offered some tips for us to be safe and secure with our transactions, when you are typing your PIN number in the keypad machine, shield it with your hand and if you notice that there's someone is standing close enough at your back, tell him/her to step back, or allow the next person to do and her/his transaction first.
If you spotted that a slot for inserting card does not seem right, walk away and don't do any transaction of that machine, do not share your PIN number even with your family and relatives and absolutely not with stranger.
Source: Yahoo News