5 super stupid ATM and credit card mistakes

What do you do with expired credit cards when the newer, shinier ones arrive in the mail?

Cut them up. Into tiny pieces. I had a few of them hidden somewhere in the house, not knowing what to do with them. After several years, I finally discovered that the official advice is to make sure nobody can duplicate them and with some, err, creativity, put their shopping bill under your tab.

This is probably one of the little things that credit card companies forget to advise their customers, or perhaps I just didn’t pay much attention. But these days, you can’t be too careful about protecting your identity. Remember that Filipinos are geniuses when it comes to IT crimes! Remember the “I love you” virus?

I also hope credit card companies would make it harder for these guys, you know? It came to my attention that some credit card companies mail cards to customers that are ready for use –- no confirmation or activation required. That’s a red flag! If for some reason that card reached the wrong person with the wrong intentions, goodbye peace of mind!

It was surprising to discover that a lot of very intelligent people make extremely (pardon the word) stupid mistakes when it comes to protecting the security of their credit cards, debit cards, or ATM cards. Here are the 5 craziest mistakes I have seen people make:

1. Writing down their PIN on a post-it note attached to their ATM. Yes, folks! Believe it or not, some people still do this. And you know what I don’t understand is that these people are intelligent and smart and brilliant!
2. Announcing PIN numbers to officemates and using the same PIN for computer logins. You know what happened? The ATM got stolen and the thief was able to withdraw everything. Duh moment?
3. Asking someone to withdraw money for you. Spouses are probably a logical exception to the rule, but the friend, driver, messenger, or helper? You’re setting yourself up for something that will only hurt.
4. Using birthdays, anniversaries etc. as PIN or password. Come on, it won’t take a serious hacker to crack that code.
5. Tossing credit cards or ATMs somewhere convenient when in a hurry. Hey, if it gets lost and you discover it a week later, it would be hard to convince the credit card company to reverse any fraudulent charges.

Someday, I will get the courage to create a tin medal to put around the neck of some people I know who do these things. Really.

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