My card was taken by an ATM near my hotel in Costa Rica. Has this happened to anyone else? Solution?
Just got back from Costa Rica last month. I mostly used my card for payments but still needed cash in places like Drake Bay and Dominical. I stuck to using ATMs between 9 am and 5 pm. The one time I withdrew from a Davividenda around 8.30 pm in Uvita I was constantly checking behind me and rushing through the process. Nothing happened but I didn’t like the feeling. If you’re a solo female traveller I’d say daytime is safer and just more comfortable overall.
Happened in Puerto Viejo with my Wise card. The machine just took it and shut off. I didn’t even get an error message. I called Wise through the app and they told me to block it immediately. They shipped a new card to my hostel in San José within four days. In the meantime I used my Revolut card for payments. Since then I tap instead of inserting my card whenever I can and always avoid withdrawals from isolated machines at night.
My Santandar card got swallowed by a BAC Credomatic ATM in Liberia Airport just after I landed. I had no idea what to do. Luckily there was a BAC office inside the airport and they spoke English. They checked the ATM logs and retrieved the card after asking me a few questions. It took about 40 minutes. I also learned that in Costa Rica banks only return the card if you have your passport with you so now I always carry a copy while travelling.
Happened to me in Tamarindo while trying to withdraw colones at a BCR ATM next to a supermarket. No one around and the machine had no contact number on it. I immediately froze the card using my bank’s app and then used my backup card for the rest of the trip. Never got that card back. Lesson for me was to always carry two cards and to avoid using random machines that aren’t attached to a known bank.
Yes this happened to me just last month in San José. I used a Banco Nacional ATM near Avenida Central and after entering my PIN the screen just froze. Then the machine rebooted and kept my card. I went into the bank the next morning with my passport and they gave it back in five minutes. They said the machine times out sometimes if you pause too long between steps. Since then I only use ATMs attached to actual bank branches during open hours.