One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18677589

Indian fraudsters who had found a novel way to steal money by tricking cash machines have been arrested, according to local reports.

The gang would request to withdraw large amounts of cash, but only take a portion of the notes, making the machine think none were taken.............They are said to have stolen about 10 million rupees using this method - just under £150,000 - from banks in the south-west Indian state of Kerala.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

I don't understand how that would work. How long is it before the machine takes the money back? Can it even do that?

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

Many of the ATM's in India don't have cameras fitted...

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

No, but I don't understand how it works. So, you ask the machine for some money. The money comes out of the slot, but you only take a few notes? Is that right? Then what happens, does the machine then take the untaken notes back and re-credit them to your account?

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

Sort of. It does take the notes back after period of time, but it doesn't automatically credit it back to your account. Instead, it registers it as a failed transaction. You then have to contact the bank to say you forgot to take your money from the machine. The failed transaction notice would then let the bank know money was taken back into the machine.

However, as Oyibopeppeh pointed out, the ATMs here have cameras. So they'd check them first to see if you took some notes, or none at all before crediting you.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

Forgot to take your money? In that case you have the memory of a goldfish and should be told to get a grip.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

While I've never forgotten to collect money from the ATM, I can think of at least three times in the last two years I've had to be called back to the checkout because I've forgotten what I just bought.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

I think in the past ten years, three times I've had cause to call back the person in using the ATM in front of me while queuing, because they'd walked away leaving their money waiting to be collected. Always the same - they are distracted, take card, hurry off.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

People's stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

I once walked past the M&S in Cambridge and noticed there was cash just hanging out of the ATM, uncollected, nobody else around, and the machine seeming to make no effort to take it back.

Left the bundle of notes at the Customer Service desk. About 50 quid if I remember rightly.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

Why thank you :p

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

Meow- I've been that stupid before- in the UK as well as here- luckily I have always had a very honest person behind me who called me back- honestly some days I'd forget my head if it wasnt screwed on- generally have too many things on the go and before i finih one thing my head is onto the next thing already- its a lot easier done than you think- maybe not for a financial type person though! I regualarly loose my car in car parks (not here as i dont have 1) but once got very close to calling the police as thought it had been stolen- but no I was just in the wrong car park! took me over an hour to work that out. I now text myself where i have parked.

I often walk in a room and forget why I walked in there- always comes down to working on too many things at any given time!

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

Cameraphones are great for taking a quick snap of where you've parked, when in confusing car parks. Top tip.

It's worth trying to focus on using the ATM when at the ATM, maybe a mantra like "wait for the cash, wait for the cash" once you select the "give me dosh" option would do it!

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

If you park on a street an wander off somewhere or in a car park and don't know which street it's on.....you can go on google maps on your new iphone, locate yourself and drop a pin where you are so you can find your way back.

I'm pretty good at remembering but do it when I'm in a new area or know I'm going to be wandering for a while.

Re: One for Tock and his love of Keralites
 

Another trick I discovered yesterday; in the bottom left hand corner there is the 'locate me' button. If you double tap though, it not only locates you, but shows the way the phone is pointing.