Can Someone Withdraw Money from ATM Without My Card

Last Updated on September 23, 2023

Can someone withdraw money from ATM without my card? The simple answer is “yes.” Several banks have integrated the cashless policy, which allows their customers to withdraw from the ATM without a credit card. So, if your bank uses the cashless policy, someone can possibly withdraw your money from ATM without your card.

Although your debit card is safe in your hands, it could still be compromised. A crook may have plotted a way to collect your card details, which he uses at the ATM without your physical card.

You should also note that nobody can withdraw your money from an ATM without your PIN. Of course, a crook requires access to your card details before using a mobile payment app to withdraw at the ATM using infrared technology.

In this article, I will disclose how to withdraw money from a checking account without a debit card. You could be complaining like, “someone withdraw money from my account without my card,” which I will respond to in this article.

Is It Possible Withdraw Money from ATM Without My Card

Yes, someone can withdraw money from ATM without your card in ways including taking advantage of your bank’s cashless policy, transferring money from your account to another account, or using a third-party mobile payment.

As a new day dawns, humans hope for more convenient measures to make life easier. One such is how you perform transactions online without moving about with money or a payment card. However, these innovations are struck with loopholes that crooks seize to defraud you.

A standard method of going cardless without a debit card enables the cardless withdrawal service in your bank’s mobile app. If a crook can, by chance, log in to your bank app, he will enable the cardless option, request a code from your bank, and proceed to withdraw at the ATM without your debit card.

How to Withdraw Money from Checking Account Without Debit Card

In this section, I will show you the various ways crooks use to withdraw money from your account without a debit card. After discovering these methods, endeavour to improve the security level of your debit card to keep someone from withdrawing without your authorization.

Below are the methods someone could use to withdraw money from ATM without your card:

Using Digital Mobile Payments

The debut of digital wallets means that you can pay or sell without cash or a bank card. In the same manner, someone can use any of the digital wallets to withdraw money from the ATM without your card.

Below are some of the digital apps that someone can use to withdraw money from your checking account.

Google Pay

With Google Pay, someone can withdraw money from their checking account without a physical card. He will link your card details to Google Pay and use the contactless symbol within the app to withdraw from the ATM with your PIN.

Apple Pay

Apple Pay is a digital wallet that allows you to withdraw cash. If someone has access to your bank details, they can use Apple Pay to make withdrawals without a debit card. Some of the banks that accept Apple Pay are Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. If you are a customer of any of these banks, you would want to be careful with your checking account details.

Crooks can use Apple Pay to withdraw without an ATM card because Apple Pay uses NFC (Near-field Communication). A crook may create an Apple Pay account and use your checking account details for the cardless cash feature. He then proceeds to the ATM with his phone to make withdrawals.

What a crook does is open his Apple Pay Wallet, add your card, and tap his phone against the contactless symbol. He will enter the PIN of your card, verify identity, and make withdrawals.

Paydiant

Some banks using the cashless policy partner with Paydiant, owned by PayPal. Paydiant is integrated into the official application of your bank. Now, if someone has access to your banking app, they will use Paydiant to generate a code which they use at the ATM for withdrawals.

Paydiant makes it easy for someone to withdraw money from your account because it uses an in-app generated QR code to authenticate a withdrawal. So, if your bank uses Paydiant for its cashless policy, endeavor to use a strong password for your banking app.

Paycode

Some banks also use Paycode to run their cashless policy. It supports both USSD and in-app cash withdrawals, which means that someone can withdraw money from your account if they have access to your SIM card and card PIN.

When a crook generates a unique code from Paycode using your account details, he proceeds to any ATM that supports Paycode. He then enters your PIN and the unique code generated earlier to withdraw money from your checking account.

CashTapp

If you are a Capital One 360 Checking customer, anybody can withdraw from your account from any cardless ATM. The person will use the CashTapp sticker, which makes the process comfortable, so far the crook has your card details.

The crook can also use the ATM finder feature within the app to find the nearest CashTapp ATM quickly. A crook enters the amount he wants to withdraw in the app and take his phone near the CashTapp sticker at the ATM. With a few on-screen prompts, he withdraws your money and exits the ATM gallery.

Skimming and Cloning

A skimmer is a device that can capture your card details. However, if your card has an EMV chip, a skimmer will not work. So, a crook uses a skimmer to target cards without EMV.

A crook can install a skimmer in a POS or directly in an ATM. When you insert your card, the device captures all information, which the thief recovers, and clone a new card with your information.

Transfer and Withdraw

Regarding the question, “can someone withdraw money from ATM without my card?” if someone knows your bank app details, they can withdraw from your bank via the ATM. After logging into your bank app, the crook will transfer money to another checking account for withdrawal at the ATM.

Traditionally, the crook will use the bank account of a money mule to receive the money; thus, preventing any agency from tracking him.

Occasionally, a crook will simply visit the nearest ATM gallery after having your bank details. He will ask another person in the queue to assist him with withdrawals and transfer the money to his account. Now, the dirty money will be traced to the bank account of an innocent person who gets to answer questions for a crime he is unaware of.

Dishonest Employees and Card Cloning

Employees at trusted stores can compromise your debit card details and withdraw money from your account without a card. They will set up false PIN pads that capture your card information and will not send the information to the bank.

They will put the cash in the register, and the transactions become undetectable. Crooks will then create a fake card that serves as a clone of your debit card and use it to withdraw from the ATM.

How Can Crooks Collect Your Bank Details?

The most challenging task for a crook is to the details of your bank account. Some of the methods scammers use to collect your bank details are skimming, use of cameras, and phishing.

The commonest method crooks use to collect bank details is through phishing, and this method works 60% of the time, especially for older adults.

Crooks have various methods of phishing for your bank details. Three of the most typical methods are email phishing, website phishing, and phone call phishing.

Email: A crook will send a malicious URL to your email account and encourage you to click the link. The URL might take you to the login page of your bank or any trusted site of an organization that uses your credit card details. When you enter your card details, it saves to a file path in the hosting account of the crook that uses it to withdraw your money from the ATM.

Website: Here, a crook will create a fake website in the form of an e-commerce store. Typically, the prices of items in the store are mouthwatering, and it tempts you to enter your credit card details. When you provide your details at the fake site, your credit card details are stored and cloned.

Phone Call: People still fall for phone call phishing from scammers. They will disguise as a representative from your bank and trick you to provide your bank account details for the rectification of your banking information.

NFC and App-Generated Digital Wallets

Two of the common ways banks control cardless policy are the NFC (Near-Field Communication) and app-generated codes.

Services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and CashTapp uses NFC, while the likes of Paycode and PayPal’s Paydiant use app-generated codes.

If your bank uses an NFC service, a crook will directly use his/her phone to authenticate a withdrawal and verify identity. Whereas services that utilize app-generated codes will provide you with unique temporary digits to input at the ATM for authentication.

Unlike NFC services, app-generated services support offline mobile banking using USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data).

Can I Disable Digital Wallet Transaction for ATM?

Yes, you can, depending on your bank. Some banks provide options within the app for their customers to either enable or disable the feature. Some other banks do not offer the option to disable the feature; you may have to contact the bank directly.

Why You Require Cardless Card

While going through this article, you suddenly dislike the idea of a cardless card. But the cardless card policy is only threatened when you disclose your card details to the bad guys.

Instead of detesting cardless card transactions, learn to secure your checking account details. Below are the reasons why you require a cardless card policy:

Convenience: Using a cardless card is convenient than carrying your card about. Besides, even if a crook has your card, they can’t make withdrawals without your PIN. If you experience unauthorized withdrawals, your card details have likely been compromised.

Emergency: In emergencies, you do not require your credit card as a few taps can sort the financial emergency. You will simply walk into a nearby ATM that supports a digital wallet such as Paycode, Paydiant, Apple Pay, etc., and make withdrawals using your mobile phone.

No Hidden Charges: You do not incur additional charges for going cardless.

Enhanced Security: The cardless card policy defeats having a card in so many ways. For example, you would not have to think of losing your card. And if you lose your card, a crook can use the card details to shop without OTP.

Secondly, the unique code or authentication works only once. So, a crook can’t reuse previous information to withdraw money from your bank account.

Setbacks of Cardless Cash

Cardless cash also has some minor setbacks. Below are the setbacks:

Selected Banks and ATMs: This setback could favor you when you mistakenly disclose your bank details to a crook. At the moment, only a few banks and ATMs render support for cardless cash, which costs a crook sometimes to locate a supported ATM.

Withdrawal Fraud: Withdrawal fraud is not much of an issue with the cardless card because a crook requires your PIN and other bank details to complete a transaction. So, if a crook can collect your card PIN and bank app login details, they can withdraw money from the ATM.

Ways to Prevent Someone from withdrawing Money from ATM with Your Card

In this section, I will expose some ways to keep scammers from withdrawing money from your account without your card.

Keep Your Bank Details Private

Your bank will never request your account details for whatever reason. Of course, bank staff can access the frontend of your bank account to confirm whatever they want to without requesting your PIN, card number, etc. If someone requests your bank details, it is likely a scammer. Also, enlighten the aged adults of the need to keep their bank details private regardless of the circumstance.

Do Not Click Links in Your Email from Unknown Sender

Someone can send malicious URLs to your email and encourage you to follow the link for whatever. Do not click the link; if possible, block the user or ignore the message. Such messages are what scammers send to their targets before making victims out of them.

Hide Your Credit Card Info from Spy Cams at the ATM Gallery

While at any ATM center, be mindful of how you hold your debit card. The CVV, expiry date, and the card number on your card are as good as spending money from your account—some websites process transactions without OTP or user PIN, which makes stealing from your bank account seamless.

Review Your Bank Statement Often

It might feel needless to review your statement of account, but it helps to identify fraudulent transactions early in time. Advisably, you should always review your statement of account whenever you receive confusing alerts.

What Does the Bank DO to Keep Your Account Safe?

Honestly, you are responsible for the safety of your card. So far, you keep your bank details private; your checking account remains safe. The bank, on the opposite, uses two-step verification to authenticate a transaction in your account.

Final Thought

In this article, I have broadly answered the question, “can someone withdraw money from ATM without my card?” Be assured that so far, you protect your bank login details; someone will not compromise your checking account and withdraw money from ATM without your card.

The thumb rule remains that you are responsible for the security of your card. And you can ensure the safety of your checking card by safeguarding the security details of your bank. Moreover, whenever you disclose your bank details to a trusted person, endeavor to pressure them to keep them safe.