Your Banking PIN Number
Have you ever wondered about the PIN number that you use when you withdraw money from an ATM? Where does that number come from and how is it generated?
What if other people have the same PIN number as you?
How would you know if anyone has the same PIN number as you? The banks always warn us never to divulge our PIN numbers and most of us don’t so how would we know?
Back in the early 1990’s it seems that many people in the United Kingdom did have the same PIN number and criminals - some who actually worked inside one of the major banks - were aware of that fact and were exploiting the situation.
Phantom ATM withdrawals were rife and people were losing lots of money. One criminal who ultimately went to prison admitted to having stolen over 750,000 pounds and there were others who took more but were never caught.
The problem with these phantom ATM withdrawals almost brought British banking to it’s knees and you can read the full story here.
Was something similar possible in Australia?
We may never know but the banking system may not have been as secure as we thought.
