Double Trouble: Cardless ATM & Flight Refund Scams!

Welcome back to Fraud Fridays! Today, is a bit of a beast as we will be covering two scams! First will be a recent ATM scam that has come about. Second, we will cover a flight refund scam that has been gaining popularity. As these are both relatively new scams, what we know about them is scarce. Even so, I have sleuthed through many retellings of these scams to keep you as informed as possible.

(1 of 2) Cardless ATM scam: If you’ve been a reader here for long, you’ve likely read a bit about scams that involve ATMs. With ATMs came card skimming. With crypto ATMs came crypto scams. Now, with ATMs with touch pay (NFC) of course will come touch pay scams. Due to the new nature of this scam, a name hasn’t been coined yet. That having been said, I will refer to this as the Cardless ATM Scam. For starters, let’s talk tech. Cardless ATMs have been rolled out since mid-2022. Though they haven’t gained traction, as more and more financial institutions make the leap towards modern banking solutions, we will see the inevitable rise in their use. After all, the ability to withdraw cash without your card can be simultaneously terrifying and liberating. With new technology comes new scams. With new scams, new tactic. In the Cardless ATM scam, we make a throwback to the most popular tactic. The smile of a conman.

You have shopped for half an hour finding item after item. Filling your cart to the brim with items you mostly don’t need. You arrive at the checkout counter to see the representative being berated by a belligerent mammoth. Something about “cash only.” “POS down.” “It’s not called that for no reason.” The mammoth tramples out of the front door with a violent fervor. The company representative, now clearly perturbed, turns to you, and says, “Cash only.” After a short discussion, you are pointed toward their ATM. Nigh-hopeless, you approach the dastardly machine. You put in your card as usual and the ATM doesn’t seem to respond. Behind you, a kind voice “if it’s a tap pay card you can just tap it.”

You reel around on your heels to meet face to face with a seemingly kind person. They help walk you through the initial part of your transaction. You tap your card, punch in the PIN, and withdraw your cash. The Cashier has just finished ringing you up as you return with your funds. You pay and leave.

You arrive home and pack away your items before taking your daily money minute. You open your account to find your balance is lower than expected. What happened to your money? Where has it all gone?! You open the account history and find several ATM withdrawals following your initial one.

Let’s review what happened at the ATM. The kind person tells you how to run the transaction, you run the transaction and leave. The ATM, due to the new technology involved, doesn’t immediately go back to the home screen. It is instead set up to “chain.” Meaning, it’s set up so that someone can do multiple withdrawals in a row without pulling out their card over and over. The “kind” person is a con. Everything about your interaction with them was a confidence game to trick you while leaving you smiling. They feigned helping you to gain access to your account with the assumption that you don’t know how the technology works. After you left the ATM, they go up to it. You pay no mind to this as it’s a common occurrence. What you didn’t realize is that the ATM is still set up to pull from your account. Taking full advantage of this, they withdraw as much as your limit will allow.

See, if you’ve used an ATM, you likely know that your have to insert your card per transaction. Tap ATMs are not set up this way. If you insert your card, the transaction will generally close out once you receive your cash. With tap ATMs however, you must manually end the session. This is because the idea of tap pay is for convenience. Having to pull out your card and tap it over and over is anything. In fact, most ATMs will force you to remove your card and reinsert it to pull more. With touch pay, this cannot go into effect because the machine only has to scan it once. This is what makes this scam possible. We are all used to the ATM simply ending our session for us. So, how do you avoid this? My tried and true tactic that I use at every ATM or pump is to watch the screen. You will be able to watch the session end and go back to the home screen. This will also allow you to ensure the session has ended before moving on. As an additional precaution, you can even make sure to tap on the “cancel” button to further ensure your money is safe. With consistently updating technology, it is important to remember that you must take steps to ensure your money is secured. ATMs with wireless readers will ask you at the end of the transaction if you’d like to run another. Avoiding this scam will ultimately come down to the same steps to avoid any other scam. Vigilance will be your best shield. After all, reading the screen will explain the screen.

(2 of 2) If you’ve stuck it out until here, thank you. As these are both relatively new and active scams, I wanted to ensure I got these out quickly. The second scam we will be covering is the Flight Refund scam! Now, officially, this scam has existed for quite some time. As long as booking sites have existed, so have fake booking sites. Today, we will be talking about how a scammer may steal a flight out from under you! You book your flights far out like any sane person, awhile after the you book the flights, you receive an email. The communication states that your flight’s schedule is getting changed and you must go online to either accept or change your itinerary claiming to be free of charge. You hop onto their website and it seems to be having some issues. An error message tells you to contact your airlines to get it figured out. Sure, makes sense. You google the airlines and click the first phone # you see. An associate claiming to be from that airline gets on the line. He asks for your name and booking number to confirm your identity. After looking up your information, they inform you that they can cancel the flight, but it would come at a $600 fee. You have a verbal quarrel with the associate as you become increasingly suspicious. Afterall, they said online that this change would be free. They ask for credit card information, but not wanting to eat the fee, you look for another way. You hang up and continue your search for your airline’s phone #. After some sleuthing, you find that the number you called was indeed not your airline’s. In a frenzy you go to your account and change your password. Then, you call the real number for your airline. They inform you that your flights are fine and that your itinerary will be updated at no charge. So, you’ve braved the storm and come out with more knowledge and confidence that you know how to avoid scammers. This highlight would not last long, however.

Three days later, your airline sends you an email. “Your reservation has been canceled.” I’m sorry, WHAT? Once again in a crazed frenzy, you call your airline to figure out what’s going on. They inform you that someone had called with your name and booking number and proceeded to cancel the flight and have the funds “refunded” into an account you don’t recognize. Further investigation from the airlines reveals that those credits have already been used to book an entirely different flight. The service rep, realizing what has transpired will do their best to reinstate your flights, but whether you get your seats again is a coin toss. The scammer stole funds and bought a plane ticket with them while you remain the sole sufferer.

This is a seemingly elaborate call center scam. They pay search engines a lot of money to display ads above legitimate companies. By doing so, the first number you see will often be theirs. The best way to avoid this is to scroll down further and read the page. Often times, this scam could be prevented if you just take a couple seconds to double check what is displayed on your screen. The fact of the matter is, these scams (most scams) rely on your panic to work. In your panic, the most illogical things seem commonplace. In panic, you often don’t think twice, or worse, don’t think about the right things. Ultimately, like avoiding the above ATM scam, vigilance is key. It will keep your accounts safe, and your flights booked. If you get a notice of some sort and find yourself in a panic, stop. Breathe, take a few seconds to think it through. Often times, with a cool head, you will notice the common tells from these scams.

Thank you to anyone who read all the way through this beast of a Fraud Friday. I apologize for the exorbitant length, but these scams are necessary to cover especially with us stepping into vacation seasons and a world of constantly new technology. Know that each of you are appreciated and have a fantastic Friday!