WARNING!!! Using ATM Machines in Ajijic

The following I received from a very good friend of mine. Please be careful…...

I wanted to send a warning out to all who use ATM cards in Ajijic. Several people have been taken for quiet a bit of money using the ATM machines at the Farmacia Guadalajara and Bancomer and other machines as well. There is a skimmer that is in the slot where you insert your card. It captures your information and pass code. Several people have had their accounts compromised and money has been stolen from the accounts. This has happened all within the last week. Please check your accounts if you have used these machines. The amounts stolen have been anywhere between 300 pesos to 2,700 pesos each time. This has happened to several people that we know of personally.

Which Bancomer machine? I got the same email.

Is there no way to detect this "skimmer" before inserting the card? (For example, I've heard of a "black, plastic case" or some such that encases the slot.)

Carry Bean wrote:Which Bancomer machine? I got the same email.

Don't know.

Lehrer wrote:Is there no way to detect this "skimmer" before inserting the card? (For example, I've heard of a "black, plastic case" or some such that encases the slot.)

Don't know.

You would think these banks would send people out to inspect their machines daily. It's pretty bad for their business and their reputations. In the world of banking reputation is everything.......

I seem to remember that a while back someone posted information about how to detect a compromised ATM machine. There was a video.
Maybe a search would turn it up? Lizzy

Here are a few links to photos or videos of ATM skimmer devices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3qK46L2b_c

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/atm/atmcamera.asp

Thanks, simpsca!

That information is priceless!
(Sounds like a card commercial, don't it? )

yes indeed! Thanks! Lizzy

There was a report to http://lakesidecrime.com/ about a card compromised at Superlake - the HSBC machine.

Think I'll make a point to tap, push, pull and try to move any component I can before inserting a card in any ATM machine. Lizzy

bobnliz wrote:Think I'll make a point to tap, push, pull and try to move any component I can before inserting a card in any ATM machine. Lizzy

Damn, Lizzy! That reads like a sex manual!!!

Lehrer, you're gonna have to stop living in your limbic brain! Lizzy

I spoke to Bancomer this morning and their ATM machines were NOT compromised.

I doubt they would admit it if they were..........as it's very bad for business.

She seemed very surprised to hear of it. This was at the service office just off the Libriamento. She said they have cameras everywhere & she hadn't heard anything about it.

CanuckBob wrote:I doubt they would admit it if they were..........as it's very bad for business.

My thinking exactly. The first line of defense is denial.

Quite possibly right but who got their card copied from the Bancomer ATM? I'm always seeing people talking about how their accounts got cleaned out from other machines but I've never seen a poster talk about it happening at the Bancomer ATM's (unless I missed it) & I've been following the forums for a year.

Carry Bean wrote:Quite possibly right but who got their card copied from the Bancomer ATM? I'm always seeing people talking about how their accounts got cleaned out from other machines but I've never seen a poster talk about it happening at the Bancomer ATM's (unless I missed it) & I've been following the forums for a year.

All I can say is that the Original Post refers to Bancomer and "several people that we know of personally."

Johninajijic, the onus is upon you to substantiate the accusation. As for myself, I don't use Bancomer and I'm quite cautious when using an ATM.

OP here:

WARNING!!! Using ATM Machines in Ajijic


by johninajijic on Fri Nov 05, 2010 9:10 amThe following I received from a very good friend of mine. Please be careful…...

I wanted to send a warning out to all who use ATM cards in Ajijic. Several people have been taken for quiet a bit of money using the ATM machines at the Farmacia Guadalajara and Bancomer and other machines as well. There is a skimmer that is in the slot where you insert your card. It captures your information and pass code. Several people have had their accounts compromised and money has been stolen from the accounts. This has happened all within the last week. Please check your accounts if you have used these machines. The amounts stolen have been anywhere between 300 pesos to 2,700 pesos each time. This has happened to several people that we know of personally.

This was in an AARP publication:

"How can I tell if a "skimmer" has been put on my ATM?"
It can be hard. These devices that thieves attach to the card slot in order to capture account information from your card's magnetic strip have become more sophisticated. One tipoff: Most ATMs have a flashing light at the card slot. If the light is obscured, that's a sign of tampering. Other giveaways: a card slot that is not securely attached or has a different color than the rest of the ATM.

Use ATMs in bank lobbies and other places with 24-hour video surveillance. And always cover the keypad as you enter your PIN, because a thief's spy camera may be watching."

I think this illegal practice of obtaining information on plastic credit and cloned into the world have been escalating for many years.
But we know it is safe Ajijic by countless people who give testimony.

If at least the person who walks on this subject warning causing more details would be easier to identify which pocket is affected.

As well and is only to cause alert misinforming and harming the area.

Have a nice Day!

We have been using ATM's in the area for 7 years now, (including the Bancomer and Farmacia Guadalajara ones0, with no problem at all, so, If John has any proof of theese machines being compromized, then he should produce it. Otherwise take it with a grain of salt.

I agree with Martygraw; we've been here 6 years and used the machines at SuperLake, Farmacia Guadalajara, Banco MultiVa, Bancomer, HSBC, and others with no problems.

johninajijic wrote:The following I received from a very good friend of mine. Please be careful…...

I wanted to send a warning out to all who use ATM cards in Ajijic. Several people have been taken for quiet (sic) a bit of money using the ATM machines at the Farmacia Guadalajara and Bancomer and other machines as well. There is a skimmer that is in the slot where you insert your card. It captures your information and pass code. Several people have had their accounts compromised and money has been stolen from the accounts. This has happened all within the last week. Please check your accounts if you have used these machines. The amounts stolen have been anywhere between 300 pesos to 2,700 pesos each time. This has happened to several people that we know of personally.

I don´t doubt the veracity or importance of this warning but, I must say that we have lived in Ajijic and Chiapas for a decade and have used ATM machines extensively in all sorts of banks and merchants in both of those places and all over Mexico and France and never had our accounts compromised or money stolen from our accounts. While fraud of this nature is, no doubt, a problem, it has never been for us and I wouldn´t lose sleep over this eventuality if I were you. I would, however, shade my PIN with my palm when entering it if I were you and I would also check my bank balances on line almost daily as a precaution.

When we moved here in 2001, the primary bank for Geezers was that Lloyd investment house, now Actinver. They took advantage of all the Goobers and they penny-pinched me for years. I haven´t darkened their doorstep in at least six years and never will again. Live and learn.