Banco Popular ATM fraud in Sosua

[gerd]

Originally Posted by Rocky

Just doing everything they can to not make good for their incompetence and exibiting their "devil may care" attitude towards their clients.
Anybody have any good ideas on how to really make their lives miserable, I'm open to suggestions.

Typical careless dominican attitude. Don't worry, be happy. Don't we all just love it?

I enjoyed the idea with the liquid metal (Coqui), someone mentioned some weeks ago, can't remember if it was HB or CC or so...
It may not be a great help to solve the problem, but may help to relief a bit.

Oooops, Conchman okay, I was too slow....

[dawnwil]

Al, I'm so very sorry to hear this... didn't know until Marc directed me here a few minutes ago.

In my hometown some teens once repainted the water tower sign to read Beer River, not Deep River.

If you like, I'll repaint the sign to: Banco Unpopular.

Dawn

[PICHARDO]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Read here::::



<<<<<-----INSIDE JOB-->>>>>

That's the reason behind the run-around to your questions and findings by the bank's supervisory. Contact the main bank offices in the DR and send them the actual pics and a transcript of your dealings with the individuals in charge at such terminal. They'll investigate and you will notice a change of personnel in the comming weeks if not days.

A bank's reputation it's very fragile right now in the DR and they'll do their best to safeguard it!

[BushBaby]

An English contact of mine had a similar problem getting a Police Report from the Sosua station some 3 years ago. They refused to give her a report saying it wasn't their responsibility to make out a report. I took her to the British Consulate here in Puerto Plata & the Consular Agent (The Hon Consol is generally out of the country in Miami!!!) rang the Sosua station & told them to write out a report for my contact, when she called there the following day. .......... They did it like lambs!!!

Have a word with Bill Kirkman (or his son if he has now taken over) & TELL him you expect some form of Consular assistance at getting the police to write your report!! I am sure a telephone call to the police in Sosua will get the desired help/assistance you require!! Try to get him to talk to the bank too & suggest they facilitate your claim to your own bank Head Office!!!

If you can get to the ATM when no-one else is around, try a brief note in English & Spanish stating that "This ATM is open to fraud by Bank Staff & others as yet unknown. Suggest you use an alternative ATM AND Bank in future!!). Alternatively, find out how to "Hack into" the ATM yourself, wait for a bank employee to make a transaction & then take money to the value of RD $50,000 (your RD $55,000 less the RD $5,000 you did actually withdraw) out of THEIR account. Should produce some reaction somewhere in the chain!!!

Good luck & keep us informed!! - Grahame.

[xiv]

This is really scary stuff.. people tapping out from ATM machines, stupid and irresponsible bank clerks, uncaring and corrupt policemen... I will have to get enough cash to avoid having to go to the bank (and hope I will not get robbed). Since I heard that credit card fraud is also pretty common.. there's no alternative. No reason to get paranoid, but ... very very careful

[Danny W]

Al is not the only one. There must have been dozens of people robbed by this scam. At some point, it's up to the people to inforce standards, whether it's excessive noise, garbage, theft, whatever, Sosua is too nice a place to tolerate moronic, self destructive behavior. Are there any civic organizations in Sosua like a chamber of commerce or concerned citizens groups? Glueing locks and just getting your money back seem like temporary solutions at best. Sure it's the DR, but Sosua is it's own little world and deserves better. - D

In the more than 10 years that I have lived here, I have seen myself, friends, my employees etc ripped off by Banco Popular at almost every ATM machine, rangeing from POP, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Barahona and Neyba.

The bank will do absolutely nothing. At the Texaco in POP closest to Zona Franca, people will put some type of tape over the hole, actually paint it silver like the machine and then wait for you to get your card stuck in it. When you go to get help, they will somehow pull the card out, somehow know the PIN and then withdraw money from other ATM's with your card. THE TEXACO WATCHMAN SITS RIGHT THERE and watches as he says it is not his problem, since he works for the gas station and not the bank.

The bank in POP has lines of people daily complaining about the machines to no avail. They even know what happened to you when you go in, IE the tape scheme, and say "oh yes" , it happened to many people over the weekend. BUT IT CONTINUES. THEY WILL NEVER PAY YOU BACK A DIME.

Sometimes it will say it gave you the money and won't, but takes it out of your account and then when you complain they say you got the money.

I have solved the problem for all my friends and employees by making them get at least 2 cash card accounts, if not more. Then I set them up on internet banking with Banco Popular, even though most of them can't use the computer, and I have access to it. They put away the card from the main account and never use it. Then transfer only enough money that they think they need for a while into the 2nd account. IF THEY EVER HAVE A PROBLEM AT THE ATM AGAIN (WHICH HAS HAPPENED) they call me, (they all make it a habit of having their cell phone with them when they go to the ATM) and I transfer the money OUT of the account of the card they used at the ATM into the other account until the problem is resolved. THEN, noone can get the money with or without the card, since there is none in the account.

It's just like the rest of this country. You have to have your own watchmen in order to keep from getting robbed, YOU never want to be in a position to call the police after you've been robbed, cause all they'll do is find out what you have left and come back and rob the rest later. SAME goes for the ATM's .......you have to have your OWN PROTECTION.

[ricktoronto]

ATM's use a hardware encryption device at the keypad to send your PIN once hashed with the public key of your bank which it receives once you put the card in and before you start the transaction.

The transmitted information if "tapped" is useless without the private key of the bank you are taking money from and thus anyone listening in. Something else happened here. Sometimes false front ATM's, sometimes card readers that take the stripe info combined with a camera watching the PIN (smurfing) , but tapping the phone line is not the way it works.

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by Danny W

Al is not the only one. There must have been dozens of people robbed by this scam. At some point, it's up to the people to inforce standards, whether it's excessive noise, garbage, theft, whatever, Sosua is too nice a place to tolerate moronic, self destructive behavior. Are there any civic organizations in Sosua like a chamber of commerce or concerned citizens groups? Glueing locks and just getting your money back seem like temporary solutions at best. Sure it's the DR, but Sosua is it's own little world and deserves better. - D

Well said, Danny.

Sosua has improved in leaps and bounds with regards to community spirit over the last few years. The level of cooperation and support amongst the ex-pats is beyond what I ever expected to see and we are managing to avoid a lot of problems through warning others about scams and those who perpetrate them.
What has not improved, is the capacity to do anything about it, when it happens.
When a police colonel looks me in the eye and tells me that since Al's ATM card was not stolen, that no crime has been commited, and that the only recourse is through civil action, I feel rather stonewalled.
DR1 has proved to be an invaluable tool for getting good suggestions and making contacts who can help resolve some of these problems.
Bushbaby's suggestions are excellent and I imagine Al will be in touch with the American Counsel.
Thank you Robert for posting those pics. Nothing tells the story better than seeing it clearly with your own eyes.

[adrianb]

Now I understand why this happened:

"I discovered that there had been 5 more withdrawals, totaling 55,000 pesos, which I did not make. "

What proof is there that he did not make those withdrawals?

We're in a country which is economic trouble, and people aren't known for telling the truth. So they assume everyone is the same. No wonder the police didn't believe him.