800 hunted in ATM scam - 12 charged with larceny

[Nastrodamus]

Different strokes for different folks

[MiTcHiE]

Ok I have a few questions. Does the 800 represent the number of people who didnt return the cash, or does it represent the number of peeps they want to question???


And how do u think these guys found out that there was a problem? Was it word of mouth or by total accident???

[ramesh]

Depending what really happened, there could be a number of ways these people found out:

1. Perhaps they don't even know! It is possible that a person going to an ATM has no clue as to how much money they really have in the account. It seems silly, but it is true. They keep no records or if they do, they won't remember the amounts or are not in a position to do the maths. The try to withdraw an amount an THEN check the balance if they can't.

2. There may be a deliberate or discovered glitch in the system, which a programmer or other Bank Official may have been attempting to exploit. Not wanting their image on the cameras, they send someone in their place. This person, being greedy decides to use the exploit for themselves, telling their best friends, lovers and family in the process. They tell their friends, etc. and so on, and so on, and so on. The fault in this is that it would have spread to over 800 people in less than 48hours, is that possible?

My feeling is that the figure is an estimate or just thrown in because no one knows the true figure. As always, I could be wrong.

[BlackCryptoKnight]

I am wondering how they are able to determine who actually exploited glitch. When the excessive withdrawals were made, were the transactions recorded in the banking system? Do the ATM machines keep records of all funds dispersed and link it to the card used? How are you going to tell between a legitimate withdrawal and an exploit if every message sent back by the Multilink terminal is that there are sufficient funds and withdrawal is ok?

I wonder if there's any info on the net on how Bank ATM systems generally work? It's very intriguing

[ramesh]

[quote author=BlackCryptoKnight link=board=1;threadid=2746;start=15#msg26356 date=1073946387]
I wonder if there's any info on the net on how Bank ATM systems generally work? It's very intriguing
[/quote]

I found this but it isn't complete: How ATM's work

[seanbee20]

The ATM keeps a record of all transactions done - so it is very easy for them to see the customers who exploited the glitch, plus the ATM is equipt with quite a few cameras not visible to the naked eye.

So who ever exploited the glitch shouldn't feel like they are out of the bush as yet

[sandor]

rbtt - what went awry

[seanbee20]

Good post Sandor, i guess this quelches all the speculations

[CKnight]

[quote author=Ramesh link=board=1;threadid=2746;start=15#msg26355 date=1073946017]
The fault in this is that it would have spread to over 800 people in less than 48hours, is that possible?
[/quote]

Think back to a couple years ago when C&W was giving out "free calls" to their loyal customers. I was attending EXED at the time, and whenever the calls started going out, it took under an hour for the WHOLE SCHOOL to know.

Now substitute "free calls" with "free money" and you tell me how long you think it would take word to spread?

[MiTcHiE]

Good point CKnight, I too remember those days at EXED with my C&W phone. Those were the days, I can just imagine how quickly the atm issue would spread. I seriously doubt that people would worry about the camera in the atm.