What do you normally do with the receipt when you withdraw money at an ATM? One of the most common actions is to throw it away immediately, usually in the bin next to the ATM or inside the bank branch. At other times we save it and throw it away later. But it is not so often to tear the paper and safely dispose of it. However, you should know that it is advisable to be careful with these receipts, since they could become the way to suffer an attack and have your money stolen.
Previously we talked about how it was not really necessary to request a copy of the payment transactions you make in stores or restaurants. There are many reasons not to, but one that is not often mentioned is security. Because although the banking environment has strengthened solidly in recent years, the reality is that it still exposes us to suffer a multitude of problems. Unfortunately, payment or ATM receipts are one of those routes of infection.
Tickets expose you
This is not a new problem, but it is true that it is one that has been less and less important. In the past, there have been many thefts that were carried out due to the amount of information that appeared on the ATM receipts or on card payments. This led to the fact that the volume of information included was increasingly controlled to reduce it as much as possible.
In any case, although there has been a significant improvement, the reservations continue putting homeowners at risk of the card. Personal information that may be sensitive is included, such as the name and surname, the final numbers of the credit card or the available balance, as well as the details of the operation carried out. No less important, the information of the ATM, the bank and the time at which the money was extracted is also printed. Although all this may give you the feeling that it does not have any type of risk, the reality, as we will tell you below, is very different.
The risks
In the past, it was simply feared that, with the data on the ticket, it would be possible to decipher the numbers hidden with asterisks. This is actually unlikely. Very advanced techniques and crossing a large volume of information and other records would be needed to be able to obtain the card numbers. What you risk the most if you throw the receipt in the ATM bin or another place where it can be picked up by attackers, is that you end up being a victim of a scam.
Think that if a group of scammers has guarded the ATM bins and has the habit of collecting receipts, they could use that information for something dangerous. For example, they would have access to a large volume of your personal information that could be combined with the registration of operations. If they had access to your phone number, something that with your name and other information might not be difficult for them to obtain, they could send you a phishing message posing as your bank. This message might include mentions of the latest operations you’ve done at the ATM, which would give you confidence, because at first glance, it would be hard to know how they could have gotten that information.
What would happen is that they would try to trick you into clicking on a link or entering your bank card details. In one way or another they would try to take you to the critical point where they steal access to your bank account to start using it immediately. As you surely already know if you usually see our news about victims of scams, losing access to your bank account can end up becoming a serious headache. For this reason, you always have to try to be protected, whether you use a classic card or a virtual card for online purchases.
In the case of receipts, tickets or vouchers, whether from the ATM or from the stores when you buy, what we recommend is that you either not request a copy or destroy it as soon as possible. In these times, in which all operations are recorded on the Internet from your online account, there is not so much need to use them either. So if you can do without the guards, all the better.