The news about folks unable to withdraw money from their Cypriot banks today reminded me of several things that have happened here. Two of my students got their debit cards "skimmed" in one of those nasty add-ons to ATMs. I've heard several horror stories from people on the bus too. I've again reminded myself to only use ATMs inside bank lobbies.
One of my colleagues had another ATM eat his debit card, and when he contacted the bank to tell them, they mistakenly also put a hold on this credit card too. He was left with no access to money or credit all weekend, and had a heck of a time straightening it out yesterday. The bad bank (like my experience before I left) was Wells Fargo who can look forward to being dumped by both of us when we return home.
But there's good news too. One of my flakier students (and that's saying a lot) left her purse on a London bus. She realized it within minutes, but the bus was long gone. Yet within two hours, the woman sitting next to her found her on Facebook, messaged her, and they met up to retrieve her purse.
As a cautionary note, she's put a hold on those cards for a bit, just in case this was too good to be true, but the woman returned the entire purse which included 100 pounds in cash. Amazing.
Card Skimming, Card Woes, and Good News
March 19th, 2013 at 09:40 pm
March 20th, 2013 at 02:45 am 1363747544
March 20th, 2013 at 04:07 am 1363752462
March 20th, 2013 at 06:41 am 1363761701
How do the banks deal with the issue of card skimmers? Do the students eventually get reimbursed for their loss?
March 20th, 2013 at 01:06 pm 1363784791