ATM = Alarmingly Telling Movements

One Saturday night before heading to the movies, I decide to stop at an ATM and deposit a check. Against my better judgment, I use the street one my bank has in the neighborhood. There are three of them lined up along the street, attached to the exterior wall of the branch. 

I use the middle one, and while I’m using it, I notice someone come up to the one to the right of me and start fiddling around with it. He’s not really even using it so much as typing randomly and pretending to use it. It strikes me as odd and I try to finish quickly. 

However, right before I’m done, he moves over to my ATM and gets in line behind me. Now my alarm bells are going off. A woman walks up to the ATM he vacated and asks if it’s working. He replies quickly, “Oh, yeah! Go for it!” Now the bells are going way off. If it’s working, why is he suddenly in line behind me for this ATM?

By then, it’s too late; I’ve already entered my info and finished up. I walk away from the ATM and immediately call my bank’s 1-800 number. I explain the issue. The rep immediately says that it sounds odd and that it’s likely the guy had previously installed a card reader on the ATM. He suggests we cancel the card immediately to prevent anything from happening. I authorize it and thankfully have cash to keep myself afloat until Monday when I can go into a branch and get a temp card.

The funny thing is, he might have gotten away with it if he hadn’t been acting so squirrely.