Entering your PIN in reverse at an ATM still won't call the cops
Updated: 2012-08-31 23:52:08
An old urban myth is getting passed around on by email again, and it's as false as it ever was, even though there are new, ugly reasons to wish it were true.
The bogus email says that, if you're ever forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM, you can send a silent alarm to police by punching in your PIN number in reverse.
A series of forced-at-gunpoint robberies may have led to the renewed circulation of this rumor.
What a summer. Cue the blistering heat, the West Nile virus scare, the Michael Phelps Olympics and the amped-up rhetoric of election year politics. For me, this summer also included a new beginning and some hard lessons learned.
It was the Fourth of July. I decided to begin the day by making an appearance at my nearby gym. After a bout with the treadmill, I placed my valuables in a locker, locked it, took my shower and returned to the locker room 10 minutes later to find something was not ... quite ... right. 
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Credit card debt and payday loans can wreak havoc on your finances in the long-term, but a powerful hurricane can destroy your home and savings in a matter of hours. Earlier this week, Hurricane Isaac kicked off hurricane season, giving a thorough beating to New Orleans, southern Florida, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Here are our best resources for getting prepared for a hurricane or other weather emergency, plus other tips and advice from my favorite personal finance blog posts this week.
: Living with credit 486 New , interesting products 103 Research , regulation , industry reports 239 Rewards 47 Protecting yourself 177 The fine print 78 Credit card miscellany 383 Celebrity Money Watch 5 Print Email Emily's list : Bankruptcy edition Emily Starbuck Crone August 24, 2012 Living with credit I've been too busy to read most of the magazines I subscribe to lately , but last weekend , I found the time to flip through some piled-up issues . An article in Elle from earlier this summer called Going for Broke caught my eye . The journalist , Jessica Firger , tells her story of going through bankruptcy . I have to admit that I'm guilty of assuming most people who file for bankruptcy have simply made poor decisions . I haven't heard anyone tell their story in detail about how they got
On July 23, Bank of America announced that many of its consumer credit cards will soon have chip technology, which is the standard in Europe and many other countries. I'm thrilled because I am a long-time Bank of America customer and a frequent traveler. I actually just returned from a week and a half in Ireland. Quite a few people working at stores and restaurants expressed surprise that we still use magnetic stripe cards and said they seemed so much less secure.
Learn more about that and read my roundup of my 10 favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week!
The London 2012 summer Olympics have dominated television screens, magazine covers and office water-coolers for the past month. As CreditCards.com chronicles today, the quest for gold takes a lot of money, and athletes' families have run into financial hurdles -- some falling apart financially under the strain. Those struggles put an even more human face on the athletes and their families.
Keep on reading for my 10 favorite personal finance blog posts from the past week, including one about how to be a financial Olympian.
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Will the Bitcoin Credit Card Fly or Flop by Ben DeMeter on August 31, 2012 Bitcoin . It’s the most popular community-backed currency on the Internet . Beloved by tech gurus and black-market vendors alike , it gives people a truly secure way to spend their money off-the-grid and away from the prying eyes of banks and regulatory agencies . And now , apparently , it’s coming to a credit card near . you This week , the popular Bitcoin exchange service BitInstant announced that it would be partnering with two major banks to release a Bitcoin-funded credit card within the next two months . According to BitInstant’s founder Charlie Shrem , the card will function as a standard debit and credit card that instantly converts its Bitcoin reserve to the appropriate currency when used . Each card will
Mother Raising Money to See Daughter’s Killer Die by Ben DeMeter on August 29, 2012 Everyone has their own interpretation of what’s just in this world . For Tina Curl , justice will be served only when she watches the lethal cocktail of Pavulon , sodium thiopental and potassium chloride seep into Donald Moeller’s veins . The world will be just only when she witnesses Moeller fight and struggle against the gurney straps until he draws his last . breath Tina has waited 22 years to see the man who raped and killed her 9-year-old daughter die . Now , that day has finally arrived . The only problem is that Tina and her husband can’t afford to make the trip Tina and her husband Dave are currently living off of a 721 monthly check that Tina receives for disability Dave is unemployed , but looking
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Your 100 Accurate August Financial Horoscope by Ben DeMeter on August 17, 2012 August is here again , which means that it’s time to go back to school with the most reliable financial horoscope on the Internet . After a few nights spent staring aimlessly into the heavens , the great and cheeky celestial bodies have finally surrendered their insights into your financial futures with us and we’re now ready to pass their wisdom on to . you So what will your fortunes hold this month Will your budgeting skills put you at the head of the class or will poor spending decisions leave you stuck waiting for the bus You’ll just have to read on to find . out Aries March 21 April 19 There are a lot of things hanging over your head right now , Aries . Consequently , it’s important to keep your life in
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