A Warning on Debit Cards in Mexico
By Bill Ragan
A Warning to holders of Mexican Bank Accounts and Specifically Mexican Debit Cards (while this is specific to Mexico, similar cautions should be followed anywhere)
This article is to raise awareness of what I perceive to be a serious security flaw with the Debit cards issued by some, if not all, of the Mexican banks.
A friend of mine recently had her purse stolen. This was compounded by just having been to the bank and having a few thousand pesos in cash. While this was bad enough, her main concern was the replacement of credit cards, drivers license and assorted membership cards. She reported the Canadian credit cards and debit cards stolen and no attempt was made to use them. They are both “chip” cards and require a pin for each use.
Now the surprise, her Mexican bank account (Scotiabank Inverlat ) was cleaned out. How did they do this, did she have the pin number written on the back…. was it an inside job…. no, neither of these. They went to Sam’s Club and made purchases using her Scotiabank Inverlat Debit card ( and probably her Sam’s card). They could just as easily gone to Walmart or any other store as the Debit card does not require a pin number when making a retail purchase.
I deal with Bancomer and face the same situation. I wrote Bancomer and asked them if they did not see this as a significant security issue. In addition I asked for a telephone number to report lost or stolen cards, and how long between reporting a stolen card and cancellation. The only thing they responded with was a telephone number. When I called it had no English options, and unfortunately my Spanish would not allow me to understand the options. I will be taking this up directly with the Preferred Customer unit of Bancomer.
Here are my suggestions:
- Do not hang your purse on the back of your chair, keep it in plain sight
- Do not carry your Mexican debit card unless you need it that day. This is true for Scotiabank Inverlat , Banamex, and Bancomer. Not sure about other banks but check
- Have a discussion with your bank on what is needed to use a Mexican debit card in a retail store, and what the banks policy is for fraudulent use
- If no pin is required for retail purchase, express concern and ask it be noted as feedback for future improvement
- Find out how to report a lost or stolen card, try the number out, and store it on a cell phone (that you don’t keep with your wallet)
Here is the response from Bancomer:
a. reporting a lost or stolen card
018005227267 in Spanish
018002282728, 223-9741, 226-8331 extn. 8408 (last two during business hours) in English
b. the card will be deactivated immediately upon reporting
c. if the card is fraudulently used, upon presentation of a police report the money will be returned within 48 hours. This was told to me by an employee of Bancomer, but obviously could vary depending on circumstances.
d. he was going to forward feedback on the insecure nature of debit cards to his supervisor.
I had my cards stolen last year, including my Bancomer debit card. The theives had a lot of fun with the card, purchasing about $3000 USD worth of cumputers and other stuff. I called the numbers, but could not deal with the Spanish, so I went to Bancomer at Pennsula, the next day. The purchases were taken off my card immediately! On Scotiabank, I just went in at the Marina branch, and it was handled immediately. Seems to work in person with no problem.
Re the article by Bill Ragan and the debit card difficulty in Mexico. I agree that there are some difficulties wit the debit card, particularly in trying to use it in many bank machines here when you have a chip card. Many of the machines don’t read the chip, only the ones such as Bancomer or Santander or HSBC seem to work for me and all of these machines require the card to physically enter the machine.
More importantly in response to the poor lady who had her account emptied, I believe that there is still hope for her.
I spoke with Victor Hugo at the Scotiabank (Fluvial branch on Francisco Villa across from Costco) who suggested that the person has to put in a declaration with the Public Administrator (located out by the Corona Plant near the bus depot). The declaration is basically just to state about the robbery and the amount pilfered from the account. This info is then sent to Mexico City and an answer might be forthcoming in as little as three weeks ..mexican time. This is certainly worth investigating I would say.
For further info you are welcome to contact myself John Bray at travelman20056@hotmail.com or at 3221165287.
I hope that this information is useful.
Do not use the Bancomer ATMs at Plaza Caracol! On June 9th, I withdrew money from a Bancomer ATM using my Canadian debit card. On June 16th, two fraudulent withdrawals were made from my account at the same ATM location. I contacted Bancomer and was told that because I do not have an account with them, I have to report the theft to my own bank. I was also advised that there is no way for them to check the cameras in the room where the ATMs are located to identify the miscreant(s) who did this. Of course there isn’t because this is obviously an inside job and it is occurring all across Mexico! I have never had a problem with Scotiabank or HSBC ATMs and will stick to them in the future. Bancomer….never again!!