If a thief forces you to take money from an ATM, do not argue or resist. What you should do is punch your pin in reverse. EX: if your pin is 1234 you punch 4321. The moment you punch in the reverse, the money will come out but will be stuck in the machine and the machine will immediately alert the police without the theif's knowledge. Every ATM has this feature. Can't believe I never knew this!!Here's another example: If your pin is 1441, then you should punch in... oh, wait... nevermind. Right. If people took even a split second to think about this, or even--God forbid--took the trouble and the ten seconds it would take to research this story, as I did when I first saw it, then they would almost immediately discover, as I did on Snopes, that it is FALSE.
Not only was the disproof of this story easily found within seconds, but this falsehood has been floating around for more than six years and it still gets credence. I flagged the recent pin, but to my dismay, it had already been repinned by 30 or so people, who are now passing it on to their friends like an STD passing through Studio 54.
This is how lies, rumors, and urban legends become "fact." The worst part about this one, is that it could be endangering lives. What happens when a person getting robbed believes this and tries it, thinking the cops will be showing up at any minute, rather than giving the robbers what they want. It is giving the victim a false sense of security, and angering the robber at the same time.
In this age, do people really still believe everything they read, even on the internet? That is terrifying to me. Please people, take some responsibilty for the "information" you spread.
