Automated Teller Machines

Convicted murderer Christopher Arthur Mann, 20, will probably spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole. The same Van Nuys Superior Court jury that found Mann guilty of killing Hans Christian Herzog at an automated teller machine in Lancaster in March, 1993, recommended Thursday that Mann receive the life sentence. Mann cried as the sentence was read, breaking out of his stoic demeanor in court for the first time since his trial began two months ago.

A group of automated-teller machine operators sued Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., the country's largest payment networks, accusing them of fixing ATM access fees. The lawsuit sheds light on how the banking system collects fees from consumers. In the last month, consumers have been demonstrating their outrage at new debit-card fees, among other new charges levied by banks this year. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleges that the Visa and MasterCard violated antitrust laws by forcing independent machine operators to accept anti-competitive contract terms.

Responding to a rash of stabbings and shootings at automated teller machines, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to study whether to put ATMs in police station lobbies. The proposal by Councilman Hal Bernson calls for ATMs to be installed on a trial basis at the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division in Northridge and one at an inner-city station to be determined later by police.

Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith on Tuesday called for the installation of a PIN "duress code" system at automated teller machines throughout the city, saying such a system might have saved the life of a teenager who was killed after a July 24 robbery attempt. "The tragic murder of Lily Burk has highlighted a significant public safety issue -- ATM security," Smith said in introducing his proposal. "Currently, ATM security measures are relatively limited." Smith said at least one software manufacturer has already developed a promising system, a covert code that ATM customers can use to alert authorities to trouble.

Few things in life are more annoying than waiting in line at the state Department of Motor Vehicles for a license or frittering away time in Post Office lines to buy stamps, says Kevin Murphy, a senior vice president with Fujitsu Systems of America. No one has yet figured out a shortcut at the DMV, but Murphy's company has developed a faster way of getting postage: an automated teller machine that dispenses stamps. Fujitsu Systems handles U.S.

It's like a script from an underworld mastermind's "Mission: Impossible": High-tech thieves install a phony automated teller machine at a suburban Connecticut mall, steal data from user cards and bilk bank accounts nationwide. Or how about this: Crooks in New York furtively videotape ATM users as they punch in their secret access codes. The videotapers use the information to make cash withdrawals. Then there's the con artist in Fairfax County, Va.

It seemed like a gift from heaven in a country where very little is free. When security guard Xu Ting went to an ATM in the southern city of Guangzhou on a Friday night in the spring of 2006 and withdrew $140, he noticed that it only deducted 14 cents from his account. Over the next eight hours, he made 170 more withdrawals, pocketing upward of $24,000.

Getting money from an automated teller machine can be costly these days, especially if the ATM isn't owned by the bank at which you have your checking or savings account. A survey by Bankrate.com, an online financial information service based in North Palm Beach, Fla., found that the average surcharge for use of a "foreign" ATM had risen to a record $1.78 from the previous high of $1.64 a year earlier.

Bank of America Corp. has raised the fee it charges non-customers to withdraw cash from most of its automated teller machines to $3 from $2, a move that may prompt rivals to follow. The largest U.S. retail bank said it began charging the higher fee July 31 and within a month was assessing it at about 10,700 U.S. ATMs in its network of 17,183, by far the nation's largest. Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C.

Cardtronics Inc., the nation's largest nonbank owner of automated teller machines, will make most of its ATMs accessible to the blind by 2010 under an agreement settling a lawsuit filed by the National Federation of the Blind and Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley. Houston-based Cardtronics operates about 24,000 ATMs in locations including Albertsons supermarkets, CVS Caremark Corp. pharmacies and Target Corp. stores.

If you vacation outside the country this summer, you might come home to find your checking account smaller than expected. Who raided it? Don't blame the kids. It might have been your bank. The fees charged by banks as well as other financial institutions to use foreign automated teller machines can deplete cash faster than lunch in London. Some U.S. banks charge as much as $5, plus a percentage, every time a debit card they issued is used at a foreign ATM. Not that you would know it at the time.

Pastor Marty Baker preaches that the Bible is the eternal and inviolate word of God. On other church matters, he's willing to change with the times. Jeans are welcome at Stevens Creek Community Church, the 1,100-member evangelical congregation Baker founded 19 years ago. Sermons are available as podcasts, and the electric house band has been known to cover Aerosmith's "Dream On." A recent men's fellowship breakfast was devoted to discussing the spiritual wages of lunching at Hooters.

Fees for using automated teller machines are more common in some cities than in others. A few examples: Chance You Will Be Surcharged Washington, D.C..............100% Chicago......................94% Philadelphia.................81% U.S. average.................78% Denver.......................76% New York City................64% Dallas.......................60% Los Angeles..................59% San Francisco................55% Boston.......................

Automated Teller Machines During the last quarter century, the automated teller machine has become a ubiquitous element of modern life. The ATM's operation is controlled by a microprocessor. Tasks such as customer identification, account balance verification and the issuing of transaction instructions are handled by a central computer that is networked to the ATM. * Researched by MARK HAFER/Los Angeles Times Source: www.howstuffworks.com

ON his first day in London, Frank Conlon went to an ATM to withdraw some British pounds. Conlon, a frequent visitor to England, is accustomed to withdrawing cash from machines without incident. But on his trip in February, things didn't go as usual. Instead of spitting out pounds, the machine flashed a message that his bank was refusing this request. Figuring something was wrong with that ATM, he went to another and encountered the same problem.

Authorities have arrested four men on suspicion of hot-wiring a forklift and using it to steal an ATM from the state fairgrounds in Sacramento. Placer County sheriff's detectives said the four transported the 3,000-pound machine in a rented pickup to the yard of a Loomis home. They used a sledgehammer, pry bar and acetylene torch in an attempt to crack open the machine. The ATM had a large amount of cash, but "they never got any of it," Sgt. Brian Whigam said.