Recourse for Unauthorized ATM Withdrawals

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Question:

What recourse does the bank have regarding unauthorized ATM withdrawals? We have a customer whose debit card was used internationally with PIN to withdraw funds out of the ATM machine. The customer has the card in his possession and was not out of the country at the time.

Answer:

Unless you can somehow track down the person or persons involved in the fraud, you really have no effective recourse. The facts you have provided suggest that a counterfeit card and PIN were used. In most cases of this type, the genuine card is "skimmed" to record its magnetic data and the customer is in some way observed when using the PIN. Unhappily, except for encouraging customers to be alert to such possibilities and screen or otherwise hide their PIN entries, there is little you as an issuing bank can do.

First published on BankersOnline.com 1/08/07