Ruby Red Tuesday

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com

There is a red rim round the ATM aka automatic teller machine. What I really want to do is a story on ATM machines and PIN, personal identification numbers.

Recently, a British immigrant to New Zealand had her wallet stolen. Her bank balance was wiped out when the thief withdrew money from her ATM machine after figuring out her PIN which was the same as her birthday.

There is this stupid law in New Zealand that you must have your drivers license with you all the time while you are driving or you will be penalised and fined a hefty sum. An infringement fine of $400 is a lot to pay. If you keep forgetting to bring your license, you will be summonsed to court and made to pay $1000. To make it worst, your car may be seized on the roadside and impounded for 28 days.

I know this doesn't happen in Australia. The police allows you a day to present your drivers' license if they catch you. Apparently this is the same in UK.

Back to the poor British woman, she had used her birthday as her PIN number, and the bank refused to help her. They said she had to be accountable herself and not to choose birthdays and easy numbers for her PIN number.

So straight away after work, I rushed to my bank to change the PIN numbers of all my cards. You see, I too was a silly person who used her birthday for her PIN number. Now, my PIN number is very secret and very difficult.

The bank officer asked," You sure your number is very complicated? You sure you have a different number for each cars."

I hope all your PINs are very secure with a very complicated combination that even a rocket scientist can't crack.