Article in ST on 8 Dec 2006
AN E-MAIL message advising bank ATM users who are held up by
criminals to summon the police by keying in their personal
identification number (PIN) backwards is a hoax.
The e-mail claims this is a little-known security measure to allow
those who are forced to withdraw money by criminals to alert the
police secretly.
In a statement yesterday, the Association of Banks in Singapore
(ABS) declared there was no truth to these claims and no such
system was being used.
ABS also clarified that 'if a PIN is keyed into the ATM in reverse
order, the police would not be notified and no cash would be
dispensed'.
Internet reports indicate that the hoax began circulating in the
United States in September. This was soon after a TV station
featured a man who was forced to withdraw money from several cash
machines and then explained how the reverse-PIN method could
counter such crimes.
The TV report stated that the system was not in use but the e-mail
claimed that 'it was seldom used because people don't know it
exists'.
Banks here said it was ridiculous to suggest they would spend money
on security systems and then omit to tell customers about
them.
ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon said: 'It's only logical that banks
would inform their clients about such security measures.'
While the e-mail is a hoax, reverse-PIN technology is not.
It was invented by Mr Joseph Zingher of Chicago in 1994 but banks
have not shown any interest in it, believing that the police would
not be able to arrive in time to apprehend the criminal.
Also, they say that trying to mentally reconstruct a PIN in reverse
would be very difficult in the presence of a dangerous criminal and
any delay could provoke violence.
'I'm not sure anyone could remember their PIN numbers backward with
a gun to their head,' Mr Chuck Stones of the Kansas Bankers
Association was reported to have said.
