There is an urban legend that if a thief forces you to take money out of any ATM, you can punch in your PIN backward and the machine will immediately alert the police.
Anyone who has used an automated teller machine, or ATM, before knows you typically need to enter a PIN, or personal identification number, in order to access your bank account information and money.
Some posts that claim you should enter your PIN backward if you’re being robbed at an ATM have been circulating for years on social media, but experts say they’re false.
As it goes with all urban legends, there is a grain of truth in this myth. The idea of ‘emergency code’ for ATMs had been hatched some time ago and is obviously where the myth originated.
According to a 2010 report from the Federal Trade Commission, an attorney named Joseph Zingher patented a similar security system called “SafetyPIN” in 1998.
The reverse-PIN system he devised would allow reversed or altered PIN entries to register as a distress signal, instructing an ATM to call the police.
However, while Zingher pitched his idea to banks in several states, “his attempts were unsuccessful,” the report said.
The FTC’s report examined the cost-effectiveness of implementing these kinds of emergency systems. It found that “emergency-PIN technologies likely would not have a large impact on ATM crime.”
An ATM export said that the idea of a reverse-PIN security system has ‘many flaws’. “For example, what if your PIN is 7337 or some other number that is the same backwards or forwards?” he asked.
Legislators in some states, including Illinois, Kansas and Georgia, have introduced bills to require this type of technology. But those have not passed into law, the report said.
However, the discussion never resulted in real action and ATMs never saw the deployment of this technology.
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