No ATM's At Night At
State Banks
The Banco de Costa Rica
(BCR) said yesterday it
will join the
unprecedented move by
the Banco Nacional de
Costa Rica (BN) to shut
down its Automated
Teller Machines (ATM's)
at night. The BCR has
408 ATM's, while the BN
has 396.
Both state banks will
turn off their ATM's
between 10pm and 5pm in
all parts of the
country. The BCR
machines will go offline
tonight, while the BN
machines will go offline
tomorrow night.
The banks are trying to
ward off robberies at
occur at night,
especially in high risk
areas where customers at
ATM's are vulnerable.
The other state bank,
Bancrédito, is expected
to join the closures,
but no official
announcement has yet
been made. At the Banco
Popular, the entity is
looking at identifying
the high risk areas and
shut down only those
machines.
So far none of the
private banks who mainly
connect their ATM's with
ATH's network have
announced any closures.
The nightly closures are
in response to an
increase in attacks of
customers at ATM
machines, especially at
night, and to avoid the
practice of criminals
who take their victims
for a ride to various
ATM machines to empty
out accounts. The
practice is being called
by the banks as "paseo
millonario". |
