Reverse Pin and Forced Withdrawals
11.29.2006
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 order. For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes 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 dispatched to help you. This information was recently broadcasted on TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don't know it exists. Please pass this along to everyone possible.
--- a check on hoax slayer however, reveals the ff: ---
Status:False - This technology exists but is not yet in general use.
The technology that makes this possible does exist. However, so far, banks have not implemented it. Thus, if you are forced to withdraw money against your will, the chance that the ATM will have the reverse pin technology installed is exceptionally slim.
Back in 1994, Joseph Zingher from Chicago began developing ATM software that would silently call police if a PIN was entered in reverse. Since then, Zingher has spent years trying to sell the idea to banks in the United States without success. Several US states have explored the idea, but it is yet to be implemented. In 2004, the US state of Illinois passed legislation requesting that banks install reverse-pin safety technology in their ATMs. However, banks were not legally required to do so, and have so far displayed little interest in using the system.
Zingher and others continue to push for the implementation of reverse pin or similar consumer safety systems at ATMs. The concept is sound, and such technology could certainly increase ATM security, discourage forced withdrawal crime and possibly even save lives, if it was widely used. In an increasingly security conscious consumer market, it may not be too long before banks decide that such technology is financially viable or legislation forces them to act.
Until then however, forwarding this message is ill advised.
posted by Jdavies @ 11/29/2006,
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The Author
J.Davies
Jdavies lives in Quezon City, Philippines and has been blogging since 2002. A brand manager in a leading technology company and a freelance new media/web strategy consultant, he has refocused his blogging from personal, political & sociological observations, to marketing-related efforts and Internet trends that are relevant to his career and branding advocacies.
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This blog is a depot of thoughts and observations on marketing trends which remain personally relevant to the Author as far as his marketing career is concerned. Having evolved from the personal blog of Jdavies, much of the earlier work contained herein are laced with personal speculation, political views, and similar advocacies. These posts are being kept for posterity's sake and for no other reason. No effort is being made to claim that the author will not contradict himself from his previous positions or that such advocacies are absolute.
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