Expats, be careful at ATMs - thieves on the loose

fantastic & valuable info....

Thanks for the info on the ATM awareness. I have a question about what you said at the end of your post.  Is it common to see people wearing face masks?  Should I buy one and bring it with me or just wait till I get to Kuwait?

dear lme, when I said face mask, what i meant was most people here wear surgeons masks, or the mouth/nose protection work by carpenters/ painters. some just tie a bandana around their mouth and nose.

if that is the type of mask you are referring to, by all means bring your own. if you suffer from asthma, bring something stronger.

why do i have a mental image of u walking around in a gas mask in the streets of Kuwait? altho you can buy said masks at certain vet stores in the States, they are hard to come by in Kuwait. the government did pass them out amongst the people back in 2002/3 when a fear of attack from Iraq was imminent, they were even able to strike souq sharq with a rocket that damaged the clock in the main atrium.

Haha, I can see me walking off the plain with my gas mask, they would think I was nuts.  I knew what you meant.  Sometimes I do suffer from asthma that is why I was asking. It is justrare to see anyone wearing any type of masks here.  Thanks for the swift response.

that's my hobby

thanks for sharing this valuable info!

Legacy,
   Good info as always... I think I speak for all foreigners when I say that most of what you put out is great stuff.

Much appreciated!!

Most of SCG :p?

Merci merci

Thanks for the concern.

thanks legacy for the warning! Here in Qatar we dont have anything like that so i will be on my guard when in Kuwait

Ally

Good information as always legacy

I wanted to ask if such crime is on the increase there? I was always led to believe that crime in the Gulf such as this was never tolerated mainly because i am thinking due to the severe punishment of the crime in the region (mainly Saudi Arabia). Are these locals or are expats involved too? I read the link you provided and noted that an expat was captured for committing a crime as well. I was surprised, as i gather expats steer away from such activities due to loosing their jobs and getting deported - but it seems, some do take the risk...never the less, good information and thanks for sharing such news to keep others alert..

Unfortunately, this is a common crime in the US.  I try to use drive through ATM's as much as possible, because I just feel safer in my car.  I'm guessing those don't exist in Kuwait?

u'd be mistaken Crittle, they do altho to me those are easier to be robbed at, by the time u take ur seat belt off and maneuver out of your seat, the guy would be long gone.

jazzy, thank you. as for your questions, yes crimes do exist in Kuwait, and are perpetrated by expats. it is not a generalization that expats do not commit crimes in Kuwait or the Gulf, it is a case-by-case basis, when someone feels pressured, or they are pathologically leaning towards crime, then whether they are expats or not doesnt make a difference.

expats are involved in crimes against other expats, as well as more complex crimes of swindling locals for vast sums of money with false promises of business. the commit theft, robbery, arson, rape, murder etc.

it is just like any other country in the world. the law is passed upon all who seek to break it. despite being on thin ice already as expats, to some that is not a deterrent from committing crimes.

One of the problems we have here in the US is people copying your credit/debit card when you give it to them to pay for things.  This happened to me when I went to purchase gas.  Luckily, I am constantly checking my account on line and caught it right away.  It is so simple for people to buy those swiper things to copy your card.  I guess no matter the country, or the people, when it comes to money, some people will always try to find a way to get it the easiest way possible.

i saw that on CSI once! lady who worked at a very fancy boutique.

yes, theft can occur in more than one way, it is not necessarily a "stick-em-up" theft. it can be far more dastardly. Kuwait has seen its fair share of cyber thefts as well.

hence, if ever paying online, always ensure that the link reads httpS (as in hyper text transmission protocol SECURE), never enter your PIN# if it is not secure.

Lme- sorry to see that happened to you! Hope you got it all straightened out. It just happened to my mother, although she isn't sure exactly where it happened. Luckily, her money was refunded and a new card number was given to her.

I'm obsessive about checking my account because of these thieves!

luckily banks such as NBK here offer u an SMS service (Free for first year, 10KD per year after, i used to use it back when it was free all year, it was like that for 5 years, then they got greedy, so i opted out on a matter of principle) where every transaction on your card greater than 10KD is SMS'd to u, so catching the culprit is easy.

my dad was subject to electronic theft on his mastercard once, i think the bank refunded the amount.

very seedy business it is

One of the problems we have here in the US is people copying your credit/debit card when you give it to them to pay for things.  This happened to me when I went to purchase gas.  Luckily, I am constantly checking my account on line and caught it right away.  It is so simple for people to buy those swiper things to copy your card.  I guess no matter the country, or the people, when it comes to money, some people will always try to find a way to get it the easiest way possible.

Its similar like this in the UK too. Cloning is so easily done on kit available out there. Where i used to work in London, one of the common places for these pests of scammers. They put this cloning machine in the same place where you insert your card into the machine. The cloning device was so cleverly fitted to the ATM machine, it was made to fit and disguised in such a way you wouldnt even notice that a cloning device was attacthed to an ATM. So basically when you inserted your card into the ATM the cloning device gathered all the info from your card. So when you made your withdrawl of cash and went away, the scammer would come along and removed the device that contained all the info from your card. They extract the info from the swiped card and fraudently use it.I believe these scams still go ahead in the UK. Please do be careful and if possible, use an ATM inside the Bank, this is much safer.

Excellent contribution jazzy but theres been an.update, see before that used to work, now cards have security chips on them, also ATMs have been upgraded so that the slot where u insert ur card protrudes making it impossible to cheat. What used to happen before was that they would put a strip above where the card enters or a completely separate console that looks like the slot. There are devices that look as ominous as a dot on the wall that gather info. Whats worse is the existence of blank cards and card printers, making duplicates.

Like the ladies said, always view ur statement online and report any suspicious transaction immediately

So what will the culprits get if they are caught?  Will they be executed?

yes; they are taken to a large public square, mostly a football pitch, where they erect a giant podium for the condemned to make their final pleas for mercy, after which the crowd pelts them with rotten fruits and vegetables for a 15 minutes (vendors stand outside and sell by the piece). then the swordsman comes and chops off their heads with his axe.

is that what you want to hear?

they either face jail time or deportation, or mostly both.

Executions are for crimes against the State i.e. espionage, but even now its mostly a life sentence, where they serve a few years in kuwait and then are sent to their country of origin to serve out the remainder of that sentence.

Another great update for people like me who don't read the local newspaper lol

legacy wrote:

yes; they are taken to a large public square, mostly a football pitch, where they erect a giant podium for the condemned to make their final pleas for mercy, after which the crowd pelts them with rotten fruits and vegetables for a 15 minutes (vendors stand outside and sell by the piece). then the swordsman comes and chops off their heads with his axe.

is that what you want to hear?.

hahaha loved this!