one time at a bank( after putting my card in and typing in my pin)
i placed my hands on the little meatal sheild that is there, and it like tilted and peeled right off!
i wus like OMG

while buying a bottled water on a shopper's drugmart, i was on the line next to an old lady and she just typed in her pin without covering it. i got her pin so easily. i wanna tell her she should cover her pin while typing as i already knew it but i just kept silent.

I was @ the ATM & there was alot of people around and there was one guy that looked out of place standing there and I was watching him and he was trying to see peoples pin#s, I told the bank and they called the police. The next day on the news he was posted as a person who the police were looking for just that very thing, stealing peoples pin#s. Always look to see who looks out of place before you do banking at any machine.

Even better, don't use a 4-digit PIN. Most institutions allow a 6-digit PIN, so you get more security from that. On the other hand, thieves also know that, so a 5-digit PIN, while theoretically 10 times less secure than a 6-digit PIN, is a little more unusual and possibly a bit more secure because of that oddity. Besides, *most* banks will invalidate your card after a certain number of invalid PIN attempts.

pay cash at gas stations

I was at a gas station and paying at the pump. My card showed as invalid. I called the bank, the fraud unit told me my card # had been stolen and the thieves tried to use my card 3 times that weekend and withdraw $500 each time, but they didn't have my PIN # so they couldn't get the cash. ALWAYS COVER YOUR PIN...I always have and it saved me alot of aggravation. I went to the bank that day to get a new card & PIN #. Everyone in line was there to do the same thing. The thieves had a bunch of stolen card #'s and held onto them until that weekend and then decided to use them all at once, and there we all stood waiting for new cards!!

The part about the bank returning you money is wrong. My wife had her purse stolen and I know she didn't keep her PIN anywhere. after all was said and done, the thieves got away with almost 7,000 dollars, which, we didn't have in the account. We had a 2,000 limit on withdrawls per day and some how, they managed to get out that much in less than 2 days. the bank knew where the money was taken and their excuse was that bank which is in a major city didn't have a surveillance camera. I live in a jerked off little town and our bank has one. Needless to say, they threatened us with legal action if we didn't pay the stolen money back.

Some countries have 8-digit PIN. Why don't the Canadian Banking Institutions use 8-digit pin? It is even saver.
I have a friend who deposit cash at night through the ATM. Definitely she had put in cash in the envelope. She got a call from the Bank saying that there is no cash in the envelope. This story tells us thieves are everywhere.

Bill which bank was this I will no to stay clear.

Tak... Canadian banks (at least some of them) DO support longer than 4-digit PINs... in fact, their fraud departments strongly encourage the use of longer PINs, but CSRs can't be bothered to pass that encouragement on in a lot of cases.

I will deposit cheques at an ATM but never cash. I've heard of too many people getting a call from the bank to tell them there was no money in the envelope.

My husband and I still use the pins we were assigned by the bank way back when they used to assign the pins. The numbers mean nothing significant, so we figure it isn't something that can be "cracked". I usually take care to cover when I'm entering it.

Lisa - the FIRST thing you should do is change the PIN that came with your card. You have no idea if it was seen before it was sent to you - there could be someone out there with a duplicate of your card, and who knows your PIN, just waiting for a chance to use it. Sometimes, they'll make $20 or $100 withdrawals, just so they seem less obvious.

It just happened to me while I was vacationing in Cuba someone used a copied card and withdrew $500 and attempted to withdraw another $500 but my account has a daily $500 limit so this triggered the Fraud Dept. of my financial institution. I got my money back within 5 business days. Now I completely cover the PIN pad. Gas station pumps are the worst because they have overhead security cams that could also be used to spy on your PIN. Beware.

I was also told that sometimes when your card won't swipe after a couple of tries the cashier has covered the card with a plastic bag and swiped and it has worked but you should ask for the bag back because it can leave an imprint on the bag just like paper and they can get your card # from that. I didn't know this until the lady at the desk of the licence bureau informed me.

Several places in Canada have up to 12 digit PINs, I myself have a 12-number code which is actually taken after a barcode of something that I bought. RBC definitely supports these long PINs, but I'm not too sure about the other big banks.

Perhaps people need to start using good old fashioned cash? With electronic banking a 12 year old can hack into the banking network, so save your money from theft the old fashioned way, you know what you great grand parents did to hide their money, soon you too may have to do the very same thing. Just today I was at the bank and a couple to get a new bank card because the security on the old one was compromised and their card had a chip on it, so does that not tell you something about a false sense of security?

last month my credit card was compromised,it was around 5000 plus of perchasing on it I was lucky that when all this incident happened,I was not in the province.The bank kept trying to convince me that I am the one who used the card.
Never use your card for smaller amount purchase.Use cash as much as possible especially for gas convenience stores.
I blame the law which deals the criminals with leniency.

i think people in general should turn their heads when someone is using their ATM card...it is called simple RESPECT which is so annoying that so many people do not have! i hate it when people are standing so close you can feel their breathing, its gross, give one another space while in line!

I cant understand why the gaz pumps (in montreal)dont have any cover over the numeric pad to shield/protect your pin #. I do my best to cover with my hand but that pad is so large! Why is it that we have to bend over backwards to protect our pin when they (the retailer/credit card companies) should provide better and safer devices at point of sales!