Money-related scams were born in practice at the same instant in which the first forms of monetary currencies “saw the light”, primarily linked to counterfeits but also to the types of theft, which in many cases have characterized the “security measures “Related. Even ordinary citizens are now “educated” to manage their money accurately.
Even with the advent of electronic money, scams have found diffusion, obviously in a diversified way (this is the case, for example, of phishingone of the most common forms of online scams) compared to real contexts, which in any case are characterized by the presence of more or less ingenious types of scams and thefts.
Economic trends
In this second decade of the 21st century, electronic money (cards, wire transfers and the like) appears to be increasingly common but has not yet taken the place of cash in all contexts: cash still remains the “money” par excellence. The integration between traditional and electronic money passes above all through ATMs and Bancomats, machines used above all for the supply of cash, which are often the preferred targets for extorting information and money from malicious people.
“Do not withdraw from these ATMs or branches!”: This is the reason
The scams are very diversified, and although many are now very well known, in some cases they are very complicated to recognize: accessing the card information and the PIN is what they need, which is why in addition to the “not very technological” scams, which leverage on the distraction of the victim, those involving tampering with the counter are always very common.
The ATM can in fact be tampered with by following several modus operandifrom what one predicts skimmer (a device suitable for cloning the card), placed in correspondence with the slot used for inserting the card suitably camouflaged, to tiny cameras present near the keyboard, these too often hidden from a not attentive eye, keyboard that can also be covered by a sort of second keyboard, able to recognize the entered PIN.
Also pay attention to the slot used for the exit of banknotes which can be tampered with to “block” the money out with plastic sheets and other tools
In general, it is always better to evaluate the integrity of all the “sensitive” parts of an ATM, perhaps comparing it carefully with the others, perhaps reporting it to the bank staff.
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