Vicious Larceny: Thieves Plunder Retirees’ Accounts

Card theft is, unfortunately, commonplace. An example from Yverdon-les-Bains clearly illustrates how brazenly thieves operate and how shamelessly they exploit their victims’ naivete.

28.01.2021 – The victim, a 70-year-old woman, went to withdraw money from an ATM before Christmas. Right after she entered her PIN number, she was distracted by a man. He tapped her shoulder and asked a question. She did not notice that the man had an accomplice, who was simultaneously able to deftly snatch her card from the ATM. When she turned again to the ATM to withdraw her money, the machine no longer functioned. She theorized that the card must have been removed; because it was Saturday, she decided to report the incident to the bank first thing Monday.

A huge shock followed; on Monday, the retiree realized that all her savings, about CHF 6,000, had been stolen. To add insult to injury, scrutiny of the video camera mounted at the ATM, clearly showed the police that she had let herself be distracted and had not entered her PIN number in a protected way, meaning that the bank was not liable for her loss. Even before she had reached her official AHV pension age, the woman had just been getting by on a very small invalid pension (IV-Rente) and had lived in very reduced circumstances. The incident left her deeply distraught and her physical condition deteriorated rapidly.

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How to protect yourself from card theft:

• Watch your card carefully with every ATM use
• Look around you thoroughly before you use the ATM
• Make sure to keep a healthy distance from any other persons in the area
• Trust your instincts if you feel something might be wrong
• Observe your ‘private space’ when withdrawing money
• Always conceal your PIN number with your hand or wallet when you use the ATM
• Immediately close any lost, stolen, or missing cards
• Stop any transactions right away when you feel in any way uneasy or another person displays suspicious behavior or comes too close, when something about the ATM seems strange or abnormal