Citibank limits ATM cash in city

A jump in ATM fraud led Citibank to slash the maximum amount of cash available to customers from their accounts - a security move greeted warily Wednesday by its patrons. The new cap on cash kicked out by the company's ATMs began in mid-December after what Citibank called "isolated fraudulent activity" around the city.

The bank, with 134 branches around town, would not say how many customers were affected or how much money was involved. One Brooklyn woman said she went to her bank branch on Christmas Eve and was unable to take out her normal cash limit, so she called customer assistance.

"She told me customer accounts had been hacked into through cash machines around the city," the woman said. "As a result, the bank had decided to slash how much customers could withdraw from their own accounts. They cut my amount in half. "She said most New York customers were affected and she suggested I change my password."

There's no mention of card theft anywhere in the report, or coming from Citi. Also, no mention of anyone whose account was plundered. To justify such draconian measures, you'd think large scale crime would need to be perpetrated. Did someone print thousands of cards? How practical is that? You'd need an army of people to go to ATM's and get the cash, one would think. Hard to keep quiet. Luckily, help is on its way when most needed:

SmartMetric Biometric Card Will Make Passwords a Thing of the Past and Provide a Level of Security That Will Thwart the Modern Day Electronic Thieves

SmartMetric, responding to media reports of the problem of ATM fraud faced by the country's largest Banks, said the SmartMetric finger print activated Biometric ATM / Credit Card is a technology that will better defend against the modern day electronic thieves and fraudsters.

The New York-based Daily News reported today that Citibank has limited the cash amount its customers can take out of ATM machines. It is being reported that the security of Citibank's ATM machines in New York have been seriously compromised by fraud. According to media reports, a spokesperson for Citibank has stated that "Though we can't provide details of ongoing security investigations, we are working closely with law enforcement on this matter." Citibank declined to specify the amount of the new withdrawal cap.

SmartMetric has created a card that doesn't use passwords that can be hacked or stolen but rather uses the person's fingerprint to turn the card on. The ATM customer places his or her finger on the card and in less than a second the card scans the person's fingerprint and if it is them the card will be activated. If it is not the owner of the card then the card will not work.

..why in only one market...

Look at it as a "TEST" market. Test reactions.

BELIEVE me the Fed and CB's have studied, and are preparing for Bank Runs. This is only one small step.

People with hundreds of thousands of dollars in electronic reality(Banks accounts, 401k's pensions...) will learn soon enough that just because you have some piece of paper saying you own xxxx amount somewhere...... Well, lets just say that POSSESSION is 9/10ths...

You can have what we say you can have of "Your Money"

Did you see the TV Commercial of people in line using Credit Cards(Debt Cards) and the place is running smoothly, then someone in line throws a monkey wrench into the works and uses cash. Did you see that commercial?

Imagine in the future, when the only people using cash were "Terrorists" by definition? Or as the bumber sticker would say, "Only Terrorists and Drug Dealers use Cash"

People in Argentina could only have about 1000 pesos per month from their bank account regardless of how much they had in the bank.

Learn from their lession.

Future Customer at bank window:

Why did you say you wanted your money Mr. Jones? We are authorized to let you have $3,000 a month. We reviewed your monthly auto deposit history, then balanced it against the data bank of how many payments you make per month and determined you only require $3,000 a month. Why on earth would ANYONE want to close their account out to CASH Mr. Jones? A transfer to another subsidiary, I mean bank, would be ok. But Cash?

BTW, Mr. Jones we really appreciate you looking the other way a few years back when you were told that all your electronic transactions were being monitored and shared by the Gov and Corporations on your behalf, you made this more efficient system possible.

Many many "Thin Man"s

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?