I can’t really put a finger on the way I’m feeling right now. I think it’s a mixture of being bummed and surprised at the same time.
Ten minutes ago, I went to the local Albertson’s to use the U.S. Bank ATM there. Ras had given me his ATM card to float some money if I needed it, and do transfers for him, since he’s in Korea. I was going to take out some money and transfer it to my bank account until Friday, when we both would get paid and he’d transfer our paychecks into our American bank accounts.
I entered the right PIN, and was waiting for the money to come out when this message popped up on the screen:
TRANSACTION DECLINED
UNAUTHORIZED CARD USAGE
- CARD RETAINED
W-W-What in the hell?!? I stood there for at least 10 seconds, just trying to process what just happened. How could it have possibly known I was an unauthorized user? Damn machine.
Ok, so I lost someone else’s ATM card. I feel bad. Bad enough that I could drown my sorrow in some shopping or food. Actually, no more shopping until my paycheck comes. That’s what got me in this mess in the first place. Instead, I’m going to see the 12:30 showing of Harry Potter and buy some overpriced Starbucks beverage. (Sigh.)
July 17th, 2007 at July 17, 2007 - 6:09 pm
The card may have been eaten because the bank knows that he is overseas, or they have an image of him and your image was not a match (some ATMs have cameras that record, others do not). My credit union card no longer works outside the U.S. which sucks as I am overseas.
I don’t know if you have Citibank where you live in the U.S., but they are here in South Korea. I will be switching to Citibank because of this reason.
July 17th, 2007 at July 17, 2007 - 7:37 pm
I called Ras early in the morning (Korea time) to tell him what happened, and he called his credit union. It seems they sent him a new card in June, so when it was used this morning, the machine took it.
His credit union also won’t let him use his card in certain countries - Korea being one of them. It seems that there has been too much fraud coming from Korea. He was looking at opening a new bank account at Citibank or HSBC.
July 17th, 2007 at July 17, 2007 - 8:39 pm
My credit union cited the fraud from Russia mainly. And, while Wooribank is extremely convenient for me. I’m worried about S. Korea limiting the amount of funds one can take out of the country to less than $10,000 a year. I don’t know how they could limit a bank account in Citibank. They, themselves, are now dealing with credit card fraud here, but by real hackers. This might end up having a backlash with foreigners here who are just trying to save some money to take back home with them.