Any ATM Fraud Problems Lately?

[frankk]

I’ve never had any problems during any of my yearly trips to Negril, but I’m always cautious.

Thanks in advance for sharing any recent ATM card experiences in Negril, good or bad.

[frankk]

I’ll assume nobody had problems with ATM’s by fact there are no replies to this thread. That would be a great thing!

[Bnewb]

Frank...I've never had any problems and we haven't heard of anyone lately having issues with ATM or ABM fraud...

[frankk]

That’s great. Thank you!

[Mike_D]

The only fraud is the fact that Scotia Bank charges a $5 US fee to use their machines. That, and the machines at the main branch by the roundabout ran out of local currency last week, so I was forced to take out USD.

[JamaicanCurrys]

I believe there is a CIBC across the road that is not as busy

[wrtiii]

The only fraud is the fact that Scotia Bank charges a $5 US fee to use their machines.

Not fraud - they tell you very explicitly and you have to say OK. And it's $4.50 US.

No matter how you exchange money, you are going to pay a transaction fee. If it makes you feel better when the fee is hidden in a lower exchange rate, you have other options such as the cambios. Yes, taking USD out of the ATM then changing it at the cambio is the worst option. I always plan to get enough money for the weekend by Saturday early afternoon as running out of money on Sunday seems to be normal.

[Mike_D]

Not fraud - they tell you very explicitly and you have to say OK. And it's $4.50 US.

No matter how you exchange money, you are going to pay a transaction fee. If it makes you feel better when the fee is hidden in a lower exchange rate, you have other options such as the cambios. Yes, taking USD out of the ATM then changing it at the cambio is the worst option. I always plan to get enough money for the weekend by Saturday early afternoon as running out of money on Sunday seems to be normal.

I guess my sarcasm didn't come through in my post. My point was that many banks charge lower or sometimes no surcharge fees to use their ATM. I just think that $5.00 is a little high, since at home I can find ATM machines that charge no fees. However, I do agree that withdrawing Jamaican dollars directly is the best exchange rate.

Not to split hairs, but the surcharge at Scotiabank is actually $5.00 US as of last week. Below is a snip of my withdrawal at the Scotia ABM by the roundabout on 1/31/2018. I withdrew $400 USD (the machine was out of Jamaican currency), and you can see the total is $405 with the $5 "owner surcharge" added.

[wrtiii]

Huh, I'll have to look at my receipt again. I was withdrawing in JMD and I wonder whether that makes a difference.

[BobbyMaser]

the only "fraud" we ever faced was when my wife went up to one of the two machines at Scotia.....and two kids told her that for a dollar they would tell her which one give $JA