Despite cloning of ATMs all over the country, unmanned ATMs continue to exist in the city, leading citizens to worry about their security while withdrawing money.
A survey revealed that in such unmanned ATMs, most customers are withdrawing money without any survelliance. Unmanned ATMs are vulnerable to hacking where siphoning off money takes place with the help of skimming devices which resemble the card insertion slot in the ATM machines, and which steal data from the customers’ ATM cards.
The fraudsters mainly target ATMs without any security personnel.
It was spotted that the ATMs of banks such as the ICCI in New Market area and Kotak Mahindra Bank in Elgin Road, continue to remain unmanned with no survelliance whatsoever.
Sundry customers withdrawing money from the ICCI ATM at New Market, pointed out that the kiosk remains open without the presence of any security personnel especially after 9.00 pm.
“Despite the recent ATM scam, withdrawing money from the ATM without any security certainly makes me nervous but it is the nearest ATM from my home,” said a customer of the bank.
A resident of Bhawanipore said, “The Kotak Mahindra bank remains closed most of the time and when the ATM opens, it functions without any security.”
A resident of Garia said “An ATM of State Bank of India continues to remain unmanned.”
She has further observed that sometimes a few vagrants take shelter in the ATM kiosk at night. A resident of Tollygunge Mr. Manas Dutta, said “Though it is not wise to withdraw money from unmanned ATMs, but in case of emergencies, customers are compelled to withdraw money from the unmanned ATMs.”
“Also a security guard is indispensible in the ATMs with proper CCTV cameras both inside and outside of the ATM. What if I’m robbed while withdrawing money in the middle of the night? Unmanned ATMs should remain closed as they pose threat to customers,” Mr Dutta said.