‘Heart was in my throat’: Woman nearly robbed of $12K by scammer at ATM

BOSTON — Megan Bates told WFXT in Boston she was meeting her friends for lunch Friday in East Boston, and it was a cash-only restaurant, so she went to an ATM on Porter Street to take money out.

“So I went to the ATM, got cash and as I was walking away, someone said ‘Miss, Miss,’ and I turned back and there was a guy standing next to the ATM, that pointed out money sticking out of the machine,” Bates said.

Bates says this man told her she left cash in the ATM and still needed to finish her transaction. She says he was really nice and took her card and put it back into the machine for her.

“I see this flashing red light on the ATM and I’m thinking OK maybe something’s wrong here, and so I go in. I start a transaction, I cancel it, and then the card pops out and the light goes green, and he takes the card out and hands it to me,” she said.

She didn’t realize until the next day, this man stole her debit card and handed her another one. Bates believes he also watched her put her PIN number in because she soon realized she lost $12,000.

“There were three pending transactions for $4,000. My heart was in my throat,” said Bates.

Bates reported the fraud to her bank and learned the thief withdrew money from her account at different banks in Boston. Now, she hopes others learn from her mistake since it can happen so fast.

“You know that you don’t give anyone your PIN number, you know that you don’t show anyone your card, you know that, that’s basic ATM safety, and I just didn’t think about it, I got sucked right into it,” said Bates.

Bates told WFXT she also reported this ATM scam to Boston Police.

“The police are investigating, I know they’re looking and they have camera footage, so it’s very possible they could catch him, I’m sure they’re going to try it again,” said Bates.

Bates was also surprised the suspect was able to take out all that cash at a bank without an ID.

Luckily, she says the bank was able to give her all that money back Monday night.

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