ATMs and Panic Triggers
December 3rd, 2006I get tons of email alerts as forwards from well-wishing friends, most of which are easy to recognize as hoaxes. I believe these are passed on with the hope that there might be an iota of truth in them, although I’d wish people did some basic research before accepting notions as facts. One such email that I just received seemed quite interesting, so I thought I’d try and find out more, but a quick search immediately classified this as a hoax.
The email goes as follows:
PIN NUMBER REVERSAL (GOOD TO KNOW) If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse.
For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the
machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to
the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you. This information was recently broadcasted on TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don’t know it exists.
There is some history behind such a system - such an idea was patented by Joseph Zingher, a Chicago businessman, in 1998. Banks have never adopted the system despite multiple sales pitches to implement panic code alert systems into ATMs, and for valid debatable reasons. Mental acuity is greatly compromised when a gun is held to one’s head. Besides, the number reversal system would not work with palindromes (e.g. 7447, 3883) and would require an alternate system anyway.
