ATM withdrawal problem in Venice

A similar thing happened to me in Warsaw at the main train station. My bank was completely unsympathetic, even though I phoned them immediately after the failed transaction, and went to the bank in person when I returned.

I hope you have better luck.

You need to get onto your bank asap, who will either contact the appropriate cash network, or give you the details to do it. It may take a while to investigate it, and the ATM in question being in a different country won't help this either. Don't be fobbed off right at the start though.

Susan, Go to the bank immediately and deal with a real live person with whom you have a relationship. Be very firm but polite and do not back down. Follow up with that person every few days until it is resolved. If you can't make any headway with that individual, then put it in writing and send it certified mail. Despite the "don't give a &%$*" attitude of some large banks, none of them want to lose customers and have you relating your tale to others. Hang in there. TC

It is going to be a struggle especially if all of their records indicates that the money was properly dispensed. You have little grounds to fight on. It happen once to me in the US at my own bank. Tried to take a hundred dollars out on the weekend. Everything worked including a receipt but the door never opened and money never came out. I am suspicious that the next user received a hundred dollar bonus. The bank finally caved but it took a lot of pressure. It would help if you have prior receipts and can show a pattern of usage. And, more importantly, can show that you took out the same amount of money from another ATM within a short period of thereafter. You have to build, no matter how thin, some credibility for your claim. Your last statement summed it well. You have to provide some grounds for the bank to support you.

Your situation is why I only use ATMs attached to a bank during open hours and just after someone else has used the machine. If it works for them it should work for me. In all of my years of traveling, I have never had a problem with this approach.

Good luck.

Having read of this experience, if I run into a similar problem I'll try to take a smartphone photo of the screen to document the failed transaction. It may or may not help, but it would probably be better than nothing.

Now I am curious. What type of ATM ? (Bank owned, private, stand-a-lone ????) Location of ATM? Banca Popolare ATM would suggest a bank owned ATM. But are you certain about that? Second, I would put a lock on your account until you are certain that you were using a proper ATM. In fact, I would be inclined to cancel that card and get a new number.

Just a suspicion. Was the ATM machine in the open air or was it in a closed lobby? Did you digit your PIN? Did you enter any amount? Did you notice anything suspect? If the machine was in the open and you entered your PIN, it could be that the machine has been tampered with, your card cloned and used for a withdrawal from another machine; machines in closed lobbies are safer. - If your bank statement gives a day and a time for the withdrawal, check if they are exactly corresponding to your try.

As far as I know, the money is written off the card holder account only after cash is delivered. If the transaction is finalized in the software but for some reason the cash not delivered - say, the hardware is broken - the transaction is cancelled and money not deducted.

It could help to contact the Italian bank as well.

susan,

The situation you describe is very unusual, and I've never heard of this happening before. The fact that the machine indicated "Not Authorized" would seem to be significant, as that would indicate that your card was processed to some extent, but then rejected.

I've heard of scammers placing a "trap" in front of the money slot, to hold the bills until they can stop by and collect them. However for that to happen, the ATM withdrawal would have to be approved and the cash dispensed.

Another possible scenario is that the scammers placed a "skimmer" over top of the bank machine reader to collect all your bank card details. The presence of the skimmer may have prevented your card from being read properly, which produced the "Non Authorized" message. A camera mounted above the keypad with double-sided tape would also be used to capture your PIN. The data is often transmitted via wireless to scammers sitting in a nearby car with a Laptop. As soon as you left, they produced another card and withdrew the cash using your PIN. The technique can be seen on THIS video (there's another video that describes a technique called "forking" and that's also interesting). Did you cover your hand when you entered the PIN?

Using a "skimmer" and camera probably won't be as prevalent where "Chip & PIN" cards are used, as it will be extremely difficult for scammers to read and duplicate the information on the chip.

Good luck!

Thank you to everyone for your replies, which I found very useful. I think I have to write off this money, but have now learned something from all your replies.

1. The ATM definitely belonged to the Banca Populare. I'm aware of the dangers of using non-bank-related ATMs.
2. However, it was in the open air, not a lobby area. Good point to remember.
3. It wasn't during open bank hours (I unfortunately needed money after the New Year's Eve holiday had started). However, this is a good point
to remember in the future.
4. I always hold my left hand closely over my right hand when entering a PIN, so it can't be seen by hidden cameras.
5. Brilliant idea, to take a photo of the ATM screen. I hope I have the intelligence to remember to do this if I have any future problems.
6. I'm back home, and will make an appointment with my "personal" bank manager to discuss this. I doubt she can actually give me any money,
but she might have some additional good ideas for the future.