Secure Message when signed in to my account isn’t working. The usual response to sending message via online contact form usually results in reply to call customer service. I’m low on cell phone minutes, so I’ll try sending a link to Arvest via Twitter with link to this special posting – nothing confidential herein…
After having given it further thought, I’ve decided to bring to your attention what might have been unusual behavior of a young woman at one of your ATMs.
I’m age 61 on Social Security Disability and got food stamps today for this month. I’d already been to the west side Walmart to make other purchases when I received my disability benefits this time on the 1st instead of usually on the 3rd.
I was using the EBT card to pay for food purchases at checkout 3 across from the ATM of Arvest Bank West Super Center 6210 Norman OK – information from ATM receipt. A white female dark hair about age 25-30 was there using the ATM, and with her a shopping cart with what appeared to be a few household cleaning items such as a dust mop. Her use of the ATM caused me to realize I might like to have more cash on hand, but of course could not do cash back with the EBT card. I didn’t need to make other purchases with my Arvest VISA debit card, so I considered using the ATM to get $20 cash on my way out and maybe something at McDonalds. When I finished paying for the food with the EBT and loaded my cart, I paused to wait for when the young woman would be finished using the ATM.
Her use went on and on and on. I’ve seen people take a lot of time at an ATM before, but there was something different and odd that briefly felt wrong – a gut feeling I had – about her relentless use of that ATM. I could be wrong, but playing it back in my mind now, I have to wonder if she was checking the balance on several cards. Also, I’m not certain, but she might have also inserted something else causing the screen to briefly look like when an old VHF-UHF TV was between channels. Then the normal image would return for normal use as if it had been switched back to the correct channel.
I moved closer for a better look. Then she noticed me and realized I’m waiting to use the ATM. She said something polite like I’m sorry for taking so long. She got her cart and headed back to the other side of the checkouts apparently to continue to do more shopping. So she must have been shopping, then went to the ATM, and then continued shopping.
I got a $20 from the ATM, using it immediately after her, at exactly 8:26 07 05 17 SEQ 3627. So she used the ATM before me, and very likely after me – that no one else used it after me until she returned and continued whatever she was using it for.
I stopped at McDonalds on my way out to get a sausage biscuit to go. After unloading the cart, I returned the cart inside and then headed to the men’s restroom. I would be passing by the ATM on the way to the restroom. Before I got that far, the same woman was also approaching the ATM with her cart, having gone through the wider space between a couple of checkouts without stopping to pay yet. She was continuing her relentless checking of something via the ATM as I entered the men’s restroom. She might have noticed me walking by. While briefly in there I considered saying something to someone on my way out, but Arvest would not be open until 10am. Perhaps the lady running the money center, but she was busy talking to a family just outside of it as I went by on my way out. The woman using the ATM had vanished while I was in the restroom. I didn’t spot her inside, and I didn’t spot her when I went outside to leave to return home.
Most likely she wasn’t doing anything wrong, but if she was then it should not be difficult for the bank to check the ATM use just before I withdrew $20 at 8:26 and its use when I came back into Walmart to use the men’s restroom. The McDonalds receipt shows my 8:29 cash purchase. I was outside for about 5 minutes. So her next use of the ATM as I entered the restroom was probably about 8:35 or 8:40. I paused to eat the sausage biscuit and left the Walmart lot about 8:45. If the ATM is the kind that takes photos of user for each transaction, then there should be a truckload of photos of her, followed by one of me, and then her again soon after.
Lantern Timeglass Journal 