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Thread ID: 94622 2008-11-05 21:41:00 ATM PIN NUMBER REVERSAL Roscoe (6288) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
717948 2008-11-05 21:41:00 Received the following via email. Wondered if anyone knows if it is correct.

Below is a handy hint from one of our friends at the Ministry of Justice that may come in handy one day. This email is from Kelvin Ratnam, Senior Policy Advisor, Crime Prevention Unit, Ministry of Justice, Wellington .

ATM PIN NUMBER REVERSAL (GOOD TO KNOW)

Do your bit for crime prevention. Pass this on to your friends and relatives

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin number in reverse.

For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321.

The ATM recognises that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately despatched to help you.

This information was recently broadcast on TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don't know it exists.

Please pass this along to everyone possible..

Kelvin Ratnam
Senior Policy Advisor
Crime Prevention Unit l
e - Tahu o te Ture,
Email: Kelvin.Ratnam@justice.govt.nz

Can't imagine the police being "immediately despatched" mainly because they are, in many instances, under resourced and over stretched.

The police do not monitor alarms as the private companies have that in hand. In the above case I would imagine a private security guard would be sent rather than the police. The security guard would call the police, if required. But, no doubt, the "robber" would be well away before anybody arrived.
Roscoe (6288)
717949 2008-11-05 21:46:00 If you don't use the correct pin number you don't get any money, fairly obvious I would have thought.

www.justice.govt.nz
Safari (3993)
717950 2008-11-05 21:56:00 Sorry to disappoint (www.snopes.com). But a nice idea... johcar (6283)
717951 2008-11-06 00:20:00 Thanks for that, people.

You must admit, the email address seems quite genuine. Perhaps they have some people in the Justice Dept fooled as well? Or just a bogus address?

As it says in Johcar's link, what happens if your pin number is a palindrome? Who comes running then?
Roscoe (6288)
717952 2008-11-06 00:28:00 i can just imagine some people going out and trying such a thing after getting the e-mail and waiting for the police to arrive - then getting miffed and making complaints and then actually wasting police time :p MAC_H8ER (5897)
717953 2008-11-06 00:35:00 Thanks for that, people.

You must admit, the email address seems quite genuine. Perhaps they have some people in the Justice Dept fooled as well? Or just a bogus address?



This came up last year. The email never came out of Justice in that form.
www.nzherald.co.nz

The worst thing about this sort of email is that the idiot that sends it to you probably put your email address in the "To:" field and it will do the rounds forever attracting spam.
PaulD (232)
717954 2008-11-06 02:33:00 The worst thing about this sort of email is that the idiot that sends it to you probably put your email address in the "To:" field and it will do the rounds forever attracting spam.

Another reason why I hate chain emails
Agent_24 (57)
717955 2008-11-06 02:50:00 There was a thread about this here in May last year (forums.pcworld.co.nz) too :) Jester (13)
717956 2008-11-06 03:14:00 The ATM recognises that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately despatched to help you.


What rubbish. Think about it. How does the ATM know that? And how does it call a cop? People enter their pin wrong all the time, I can just see cops driving around all over the country to ATM locations to attend to confused or drunk people fumbling at ATMs.

This sort of drivel floats around getting endlessly recycled on the net all the time.
pctek (84)
717957 2008-11-06 03:22:00 It was a concept flying round a few years ago that never took off.

It's been floating around ever since.

I think I'd rather just hand the money over, and not risk being knifed or whatever. Can you claim insurance for being robbed?

Better solution is just to have cameras on them all.
Thebananamonkey (7741)
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