"ATM jackpotting" has reached the US, over one million US dollars are stolen

[AlTech]

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

Fees for cash withdrawal outside of the bank's on ATM are still way too high. Sometimes you have ta pay $5 US equivalent to withdraw any amount of money at the grocery store.

What??!! lmao.

 

When I go to any ATM in town all the ATMs say "FREE CASH WITHDRAWAL" and some of them specify "You will not be charged for withdrawing cash from your debit card".

 

And I could even avoid withdrawing from an ATM and ask for cash back at the till when I'm paying for something.

[AlTech]

30 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It's getting harder to find people that only take cash nowadays.  Even the junior footy club here has a mobile eftpos machine. 

Yup. Definitely. Most places do accept card now in my experience although I do ocassionally run into places which do just cash but those are mainly street food vendors.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

 

So uhh... Why isn't 'I pay for goods electronically almost exclusively' an option here?

We cant all be hipsters. I have to use cash for many things like currency exchange, FaceBook buy/sell and parking. Its still pretty hard to be cashless these days. You can often still get a better deal if you pay in cash too.

 

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

Fees for cash withdrawal outside of the bank's on ATM are still way too high. Sometimes you have ta pay $5 US equivalent to withdraw any amount of money at the grocery store.

This is a big suprise to see because there are no such fees in NZ unless you use another Bank's ATMs - and its only $0.75 USD to do so.

[Mr.Meerkat]

Beh, can't answer to the poll as none of the choices are what I do .

- No, about a fifth of the total British Smackeroons I have is in cash form while the other 4/5 is in my debit card meaning I never have to withdraw money from an ATM. I mean I've only ever used my card once to buy something in a physical store, for the 6-7 years I've had it. If we're talking about Japanese rupees then all of it is in cash form. 

- Does an ATM breaking down and eating one of my cards count? It wasn't hijacked or anything but it was just very poorly maintained (at least the bank was still open so an employee promptly opened it up and gave my card back). 

- I would but I keep locking myself out of my online banking account as for some bizzare reason, the personal code and password seems to change themselves (or I'm just unable to enter them correctly). 

[captain_to_fire]

5 hours ago, Energycore said:

Fees for cash withdrawal outside of the bank's on ATM are still way too high. Sometimes you have ta pay $5 US equivalent to withdraw any amount of money at the grocery store.

That sucks. For the most part, withdrawing from the same bank is free and interbanking fee is only 20 cents per transaction. 

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, Energycore said:

ometimes you have ta pay $5 US equivalent to withdraw any amount of money at the grocery store.

Those are the ATM's you have to be careful with. Because people put skimmers on them and cameras to get your pin. Which is why I dont use ATM's. Its almost better to go inside the bank and save your self the trouble. 

 

[GDRRiley]

5 hours ago, Ryujin2003 said:

And when I say bank, I mean the generic term. As a consumer, I prefer credit unions.

most credit unions are way better than most banks. 

[Shreyas1]

wasn't there a tech quickie video on this some time ago?

[dizmo]

11 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

I know, right? It's a smaller building with only two washers and two dryers, so I think that whichever third party runs and maintains them feels that the infrastructure for the those typical card systems isn't worth it.  It's a 95 year old apartment building too so I'd not be surprised if wiring up the card hardware would ALSO need telecom cabling to be run and they're just all 'Screw it'

Ahhh yes that makes sense. The only older building I lived in was a warehouse loft, but it was completely redone and had insuite laundry.

Still that'd be such a pain in the ass. Is it expensive though? I've seen such wide spreads for laundry pricing.

You don't find issues powering your electronics with a building that old?

[AshleyAshes]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Ahhh yes that makes sense. The only older building I lived in was a warehouse loft, but it was completely redone and had insuite laundry.

Still that'd be such a pain in the ass. Is it expensive though? I've seen such wide spreads for laundry pricing.

You don't find issues powering your electronics with a building that old?

Well... None of my outlets have ground outside of the kitchen so that's a pain.   (The power was somewhat redone and you can see where a fusebox once was in a closet but now there's a breaker box in the kitchen behind a cabinate)

 

But honesty, I like the building, it's kinda, well 'plain' mostly which I like over the walls of windows that newer apartments and condos offer.  The old time steam radiators are also fun.  Oh and it's in Toronto and I can never move because of the benefits of rent control. 

[dizmo]

12 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Well... None of my outlets have ground outside of the kitchen so that's a pain.   (The power was somewhat redone and you can see where a fusebox once was in a closet but now there's a breaker box in the kitchen behind a cabinate)

 

But honesty, I like the building, it's kinda, well 'plain' mostly which I like over the walls of windows that newer apartments and condos offer.  The old time steam radiators are also fun.  Oh and it's in Toronto and I can never move because of the benefits of rent control. 

Haha, yeah my grandma's place was like that as well. Older buildings do have a lot of charm to them though don't they?

I looooved the exposed brick walls and solid beams that were in my Yaletown place.

Rent control? Is that a bad thing?

In Van you don't move because once you find a place you hold on for dear life Definitely not looking forward to the hunt next summer.

 

[AshleyAshes]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

Rent control? Is that a bad thing?

In Van you don't move because once you find a place you hold on for dear life Definitely not looking forward to the hunt next summer.

Oh no, rent control in itself is a good thing, in Ontario a tenant's rent can only be increased at a percentage rate each year, set by the government.  This rate is mostly at the rate of inflation.  Keep in mind that a NEW tenant can be charged any NEW rate, it's just how much you can jack it up once they live there.  This is Toronto so property rates are skyrocketing.  As an example, according to the listing, a NEW tenant in my building would pay $300/mo more than what I pay.  ...So if I ever move, I could pay a lot more per month for not much more apartment.  The smartest move is to never leave while my income grows faster than my costs.

[ARikozuM]

There should be an option for question 1: I ask for cash back at grocery stores or gas stations. 

 

Also, this would help me pay my remaining tuition of post-grad education. 

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

Also, this would help me pay my remaining tuition of post-grad education. 

I want to ask, is 7% interest considered high for a student loan in the US?

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

There should be an option for question 1: I ask for cash back at grocery stores or gas stations. 

How is that possible?

[Donut417]

Just now, hey_yo_ said:

I want to ask, is 7% interest considered high for a student loan in the US?

Federal loans like I have cant go above like 8% by law. My highest Federal loan is like 6.5%. Private loans Im not sure on. I wouldnt say its too high. 

[aisle9]

3 hours ago, GDRRiley said:

most credit unions are way better than most banks. 

Yes, they are.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, hey_yo_ said:

I want to ask, is 7% interest considered high for a student loan in the US?

My loan was 5.75% and I've paid nearly all of it (about 6K left) and I'm paying off a thousand per month. But yes, these percentages are pretty high unless your loan specifically states that interest doesn't begin until after graduation. Paying off as much as you can while you're in school is a great idea unless you like having 7% of $150,000 accruing monthly. 

Just now, hey_yo_ said:

How is that possible?

You use your debit or credit card and click "cash back"?

[dizmo]

13 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Oh no, rent control in itself is a good thing, in Ontario a tenant's rent can only be increased at a percentage rate each year, set by the government.  This rate is mostly at the rate of inflation.  Keep in mind that a NEW tenant can be charged any NEW rate, it's just how much you can jack it up once they live there.  This is Toronto so property rates are skyrocketing.  As an example, according to the listing, a NEW tenant in my building would pay $300/mo more than what I pay.  ...So if I ever move, I could pay a lot more per month for not much more apartment.  The smartest move is to never leave while my income grows faster than my costs.

Ahhh right right. BC is the same way. Alberta, however, is not, which has caused a few friends some real issues. Like their rent going up $600 from one month to the next. How does that even seem logical? Luckily the market is absolutely massive, so you just renegotiate your lease and sign again. The place I moved into this year was 2 1/2 months free, 2 months at 50% off, and the security deposit was only half a months rent.

 

The average house price between Vancouver (1st) and Toronto (2nd) is ridiculous.

[M300843499]

I feel this is over sensationalised from media. Think on a larger scale... What bank still uses Windows XP for ATM?

 

On top of this, people being able to lift the ATM cover for access to use the medical equipment?

 

Just LOL! Good luck doing that here in England. Trust me if it was this easy every idiot and their rabbit would be doing it. They are not this dumb.

[Silentprototipe]

[captain_to_fire]

9 minutes ago, M300843499 said:

I feel this is over sensationalised from media. Think on a larger scale... What bank still uses Windows XP for ATM?

While most computers inside banks like the ones used by tellers and accountants are using Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, a lot of embedded systems like point-of-sale systems, kiosks, and ATMs use a variant of Windows XP called "XP Embedded" which may not have the tightened security features of Windows 10, they still receive security updates and I think they pay Microsoft to do that for them. That's why Microsoft is encouraging ATM manufacturers to upgrade to Windows 10 IoT. Since ATMs are connected to a network, they might as well disable access to exposed ports. 

15 minutes ago, M300843499 said:

On top of this, people being able to lift the ATM cover for access to use the medical equipment?

They don't necessarily need to lift the cover to reveal the I/O of the ATM. Endoscopes are particularly flexible and small and since these medical instruments have cameras attached to them, the attacker can use it to find the I/O of the ATM and plug in a small flash drive containing malware so that they can either monitor keystrokes or trick the ATM to spit out cash. 

 

On the other hand, some crooks don't even need any hacking skills to rob an ATM. All they need is a sledgehammer, drill, and a key. In this regard, no software/hardware security features can protect an ATM or a bank other than CCTV and rapid police response.

[Skanky Sylveon]

Whatever happened to the good ol sledgehammer?

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, M300843499 said:

 

On top of this, people being able to lift the ATM cover for access to use the medical equipment?

You would be surprised. They can easily put their own readers and cameras on ATM's as well. Thats how they steal card data and pin numbers. Remember ATM's are not only at banks, at lot of place in the US have ATM's. Malls, Casino's, Stores and even restaurants to name a few. Lots of companies are lazy cheap bastards as well. Hell I bet Sam's Club is still using XP on their machines at the membership desk. 

 

If I had to guess, many ATM's that are being targeted at probably not at banks. But these ATM's in public spaces. Banks have cameras every where and potentially seucrity. These other ATM's might have none of that. 

[AshleyAshes]

9 hours ago, M300843499 said:

On top of this, people being able to lift the ATM cover for access to use the medical equipment?

Why do so many in this thread think that an endoscope is exclusively a piece of medical equipment?  They're used in a number of fields, especially mechanical ones, to get in and see hard to reach places.  They even sell USB endoscopes that connect to your smart phone for home auto repair.

[captain_to_fire]

17 hours ago, Cinnabar Sonar said:

Whatever happened to the good ol sledgehammer?

They still use that sometimes but the noises it will make will easily raise suspicion unlike a henchman plugging a malware infested flash drive or black box using an endoscope. 

 

This is why CCTVs are important although those could be hacked remotely as well.