ATM Reverse PIN
Yesterday, while talking with Redhy, he told me an interesting thing. He recieved an email forward sometime back which was conveying the message that if one is confronted by a robber and forced to reveal your ATM PIN, you can enter the PIN number in the reverse direction and the ATM would automatically dial the National Security forces typically like 911 Emergency Team in US or 100 in India.
This was the forwarded email that I recieved.
See this important message below.
I just found out that should you ever be forced to withdraw monies from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse. The machine will still give you the monies you requested, but unkown to the robber, etc, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you. The broadcast stated that this method of calling the police is very seldom used because people don't know it exist, and it might mean the difference between life and death. Hopefully, none of you will have to use this, but I wanted to pass it along just in case you hadn't heard of it. Please pass it along to everyone possible.
First we dismissed the email as another scrappy flappy forward but subsequently my inner instinct advised me to launch Google Toolbar on the job to find out if something tangible is latently hiding within that. And voila! It seemed that this in fact comes under realizable and implementable technology however the negative fact is that it does not actually exist now.
They call this as ‘Reverse PIN’ or ‘Panic PIN’. When you enter the correct PIN (Personal Identification Number) in the reverse order, the ATM machine gets alerted and automatically dials the preconfigured National Security Force number to have the robber cornered.
Origin: Joseph Zhinger, a Chicago-based businessman first visualized the system (SafetyPIN (TM). It got started in 1994 and patented in 1998. Currently banks all over the world apprehend heavy investment infrastructure for this type of security setup. However, the necessity of such a system assumes paramount importance. It also assumes a great deal of coordination with Police force and they have to be in the act of crime within seconds. Very many incidents of car hijacking ends up in ATM pin revealing and robbery. A few of the examples are:
- Kimberley Boyd Murder
- Late working employees of Bangalore are very much affected by ATM assaults.
- Latest Update on Deccan Chronicle in Chennai Edition (26th November 2006): Hoax Alert — ATM Theft Rise
Views and Reviews 
November 27, 2006 at 10:10 am
Is this also applicable in South Africa?
November 27, 2006 at 10:17 am
@James,
Thanks for dropping by. Currently, though this information originated as part of a ‘CHAIN MAIL’ and to get routed to ‘Junk Mail’ folder, a search revealed as it was like a research project.
Check out this story on MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4086277/
November 27, 2006 at 8:22 pm
I must be alertinmg police every second time I use my pin number “3113” ………. think about it.
November 28, 2006 at 3:47 am
Check Snopes for a good rundown of information on this topic.
October 14, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Snopes chose not to interview me. Wikipedia allowed me to give my side and respond to criticisms.
November 28, 2006 at 3:55 am
@CountryMouse,
Thanks for the snopes link. It is really very comprehensive.
November 28, 2006 at 3:56 am
@UFO,
The software that powers SafetyPIN has inbuilt precautions while dealing with Palindrome-styled PINs as described in http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp
December 6, 2006 at 4:33 am
What if pin number is symmetric
for example..
3993 ?
Also what if pin number is close to symmetric but user types reverse by mistake
like
typing 7357 for 7537 may be a common mistake.. Should such small mistake triggers the panic button?
October 14, 2009 at 5:37 pm
That’s a small fraction of the 10,000 possible combinations of a four digit PIN. Those who have trouble with their PIN could simply change it to something more manageable. But, many banks won’t allow a PIN where the first and fourth digits are the same anyway.
December 10, 2006 at 8:42 am
Can i have a try on it? Will i be caught? = P
December 10, 2006 at 9:18 am
@Yinyin,
Thanks for dropping by. While I appreciate your curiosity in the matter, I would like to bring your attention that in the course of the post, it has been mentioned that there is no current implementation and it is a research work.
Under these grounds, any other PIN number other than the recorded one may be treated by the ATM machine as ‘INCORRECT PIN’.
January 26, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I’m the inventor. To trigger the alarm with a PIN like 4224, you type in the Inside-OutPIN, 4224. The reason it hasn’t been adopted is simple. If they admit the problem exists, then the problem will be examined and the ATM industry as a whole will be outlawed. The crime problem is too great.
March 3, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I’m Joe Zingher, the inventor of the ReversePIN system referred to on this website. There’s a great deal of disinformation about the system and it’s usefulness put out by magazines, official government agencies and banking industry. For instance, Forbes magazine claims that IBM holds an emergency PIN patent of its own. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4086277/ and I’m somehow trapped in a life and death struggle with them. Contact Forbes and ask them what the IBM patent number is. They refuse to tell me.
The Illinois Office of Banks and Real Estate issued an official report claiming that the system requires some kind of “physical reconfiguration” of the ATM or “hardware changes” http://www.obre.state.il.us/Agency/news/atmrpt.htm The author of the report claims that it was a lawyer who told him this. He claims that at the time he wrote it, he was under the impression that it needs “new data transmission lines to handle the more intelligent communications.” I guess if you discuss the Chicago Cubs on the telephone, you use one type of telephone line, but if you’re discussing quantum physics, you have to use a different, special kind of telephone line. This is obviously incorrect to anyone who has had even a single course in computer programming. So why isn’t the system in place then? The vast majority of the public seems to like it a lot. Well, I am not the authorized spokesman for the US banking industry, but here’s a short list of the claims I’ve heard about my system and why it’s not being used.
1) “An international treaty forbids it from being adopted. This treaty sets the technical standards for ATM transactions.” Actually, there’s no such treaty. It sounds like a great explanation though and one that the layman might buy.
2) “You’d have to issue all new ATM cards, costing $5 each to put the system in place. The system is terribly expensive and not worth it.” This is false too. You don’t change the card at all. All that is done is a small change in the PIN verification section of the code. This can be either at the ATM as part of the normal software upgrades or at the main link where the PIN verification software is. The invention is “transparent” to the existing software.
3) “Who could remember their ReversePIN with a gun at their neck at the ATM? It won’t work.” This is misleading because it defines a DIFFERENT crime than the one intended to be deterred. The crime pattern begins as a hostage taking in a carjacking from a parking lot or during a home invasion; the victim is then taken to an ATM and forced to make a withdrawal; then the victim is taken elsewhere, executed and the body hidden so that no one will cancel the card. There’s a LOT of lag time between the initial assault and the first withdrawal for the victim to get their wits about them. Further, EVEN PEOPLE WHO CANNOT USE THE SYSTEM BENEFIT from it. The criminal cannot know what is going on until it is too late. The goal is to get him to grab the money and run, and leave the hostage behind and hopefully unhurt. Moreover, there will be some people who can always use the system and that means they generate an umbrella of deterrence for the rest of society. Since the criminal can’t know for sure before the attack begins, does the attack ever begin?
4) “If our state makes it mandatory, that means some customer from out of state won’t be able to use the ATM at all.” Why on earth would you program the computer that way? That’s just stupid.
5) “What if your PIN in reverse is someone else’s regular PIN? It would shut down the system.” Excuse me, but your PIN is already being used by at least tens of thousands of other people already. The PIN is connected to the bank account number and the bank identification number. Think about it. From “0000” to “9999” there are only 10,000 possible variations on a four-digit PIN. There are over two hundred million ATM cards in the US alone. (A PIN like 2442 is handled by the “Inside-OutPIN 4224 and a PIN like 7777 is handled by the “Plus-1PIN” 8888. Get the idea here?)
The list of ridiculous claims is just too long. And they keep changing. What does it tell you when “experts” keep coming up with different false claims about the system? By the way, to be an ACTUAL expert in the technical aspects of it, you need to have some background in computer programming, say an associate’s degree.
So what’s the real reason it’s not being used? All their answers are different. That in itself should tell you something. Here’s a thought. If you’re the head of marketing at a bank, how many of these murders per year involving your ATMs makes you jump up and down yelling “HOORAY!!! We only had “X” murders this year that involved our customers being kidnapped and forced to make ATM withdrawals”? I think that is where the root of the problem lies.
Joe Zingher
http://atmsafetypin.com
March 28, 2007 at 6:05 pm
If my ATM pin is 8888 or 9999 or 1001 then what happens?
March 28, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Now that is some answer… Banks should implement the system and if all customers do not agree, make it an optional feature … let those who want use it and those who do not want not use it…
March 28, 2007 at 6:37 pm
One more very good reason as to why Bankers would not want it is… Every time a ATM robbery occurs the Bank officials will have to put extra people to work on the case and with police …. If some stupid customer loses his money and life… it is no big deal headache for the Bank Manager sleeping peacefully at home.
May 6, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Very interesting PIN information.Being in the atm business myself, I never really cared to know to this level of detail. Very informative!
May 14, 2007 at 9:17 am
@ joe Zingher
I am still not clear how is will the PIN’s with number like 8888 will raise an alarm to the cops…How will the system know if its a reverse pin.
March 11, 2008 at 10:44 am
if the pin number is symmetric… then we can change the pin number according to our wish.. so that we can come our this secure system…..
March 11, 2008 at 10:45 am
if the pin number is symmetric… then we can change the pin number according to our wish.. so that we can come under this secure system…..
July 19, 2008 at 11:42 pm
[…] Sources 1-Snopes Rumor Has it [link] 2- viewsreviews Blog [link] […]
October 14, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Snopes didn’t bother to interview me, just the bankers for their side.
March 19, 2009 at 6:52 pm
ATM’s can only withdraw a limited amount of cash. So just give them the money and don’t give them your life. We can find a way to get cash back into an account. But we can’t get life back to earth.
But it would be nice if you can simply add 911 at the end of you PIN. (PIN+911 = ####911). Would be easier to remember at the time of a panic adrenalin.
A very simple update to ATM’s Software may help increase the chances for the police to capturing the crook.
Claudio Jr. (Los Angeles, CA.)
October 14, 2009 at 5:39 pm
The daily withdrawal amount is the problem. If there is $1000 in the account, and he can only withdraw $300 per day, he has to either hold the victim hostage for three days OR kill the victim and hide the body. Which do you think is easier for him? The very nature of the crime pattern encourages the most aggressive criminals to commit a greater harm to the victim.
March 17, 2010 at 9:33 am
even we typed in reverse will i get the money?? or it may get stuck half the way
August 7, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Home invasions and carjackings usually precede forced ATM withdrawals. This link is to an article about a very specific crime pattern called the “Express Kidnapping” which is basically an abduction and forced ATM withdrawal. It explains the details of how the crime pattern plays out, how to expose the data and most importantly, the details of how political corruption keeps the pattern from being tracked by the police. If you or someone you know was the victim of such a crime, read this and share it with everyone you know. Then send it to your local newspaper, news station, banker and legislator. Get them to investigate it. This applies worldwide, not just in the US. http://atmsafetypin.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/8/