Inputting your personal identification number (PIN) back-to-front into automatic teller machines (ATMs) does not alert the police that you are being forced to withdraw money, the Changhua County Police Department said yesterday.
According to police, the rumor — which is currently being circulated on the Internet — began abroad in 2006 and had spread to Taiwan by 2007.
US lawyer Joseph Zingher patented software he called ATM Safety PIN, which would act as a duress code that customers could use if they were forced to withdraw money.
Zingher attempted to persuade banks and financial institutes to use his system over a period of 10 years, but no banks have employed his invention.
Zingher said in 2006 on CNN program Money with Joshua Hyatt: “They [the banks] know customers are scared of ATM crime, so the banks don’t want to talk about the problem.”
The software, if implemented, would have invalidated PIN codes such as “8888” or “2112,” which are the same even when entered in reverse, the Changhua police department said.
The police department confirmed with the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) that the information is a hoax, adding that people should be aware of false information on the Internet.
The police also called on people to remain alert when withdrawing money at ATMs and to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior, or objects, adding that ATMs in dark or remote areas should be avoided late at night.
Travel in groups when using such ATMs the police said, adding that citizens can call the 110 hotline to ask for police protection when withdrawing large sums of money.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS