My home burglar alarm has a "duress code." If I am under duress and I enter a number that is one digit higher than my unlock code, the alarm will turn off, but it will also send a silent alarm to the police (or the central station). If ATMs had a similar provision, if anyone was under duress to get money for a robber, the program could (for example) give out a limited amount of currency, while also putting a message on the screen saying that the account-holder's maximum withdrawal had been reached. At the same time, it could trigger a time-delay, send an alarm (silent or audible) and, perhaps, freeze the user's account until a predetermined action was accomplished (such as a phone call with an authorization, another code, or a visit to a branch).
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This is a great idea for safety and peace of mind. The cost should be minimal and it would be a good selling point for the financial institution. On the negative side, it would be easy for someone to inadvertently send a distress signal by hitting a key that was off by one number. The chance of this could be reduced by having the user enter a "1" for the last digit, reverse the final two digits, or something of that nature.
Great idea!
How about the duress code simply being an extra number? Most PIN numbers are 1 to 10 digits long so an extra number wouldn't tip someone off. Say, for instance, your regular code is 1234. The duress code could be 12340 or any combination for that matter. One unique to you that you give to the card issuer so the criminal can't immediately tell it's a tip off code.
The extra digit can't go at the end, otherwise the machine would see your code and not wait for you to enter the extra digit. Maybe it could go at the begining.
This idea will work for a while, but sooner or later the criminals will find a way to overcome this.In Argentine, to avoid be connected with the crime, the criminals have changed their methods; one keeps you in somple place meanwhile the other (with your card) extracts money from the atm (all the time they are connected by cell phone)If they suspect you're giving the wrong PIN......
I doubt that US criminals would expose themselves to a kidnapping charge by escalating their procedures to the level found in Argentina. Or, if some of them did, it wouldn't be many.
The downside of the duress code is that there'd be only half as many PIN numbers available. All codes would have to be lengthened by one digit, probably.