More on the EV ATM skimmers

The Post yesterday had more on the ATM skimmers found at two East Village banks.

"I was at the Chase Bank on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 10th Street, where the old Second Avenue Deli used to be," said 34-year-old New Yorker, Sean Siebel. "I was on my way to get a haircut and stopped to get cash but noticed something was wrong with the ATM card slot."

When Siebel, who works for Microsoft, inserted his card the machine produced an error message. "Then my card came out really slowly like it was being obstructed," Siebel added.

He jiggled the card slot to try to get his card out and the plastic front piece, which he thought looked odd, came away easily in his hand. "It was just stuck on with tape -- there was a magnetic-card reader inside and a USB port."

Siebel said he took his find inside the bank and asked for help. Maria Pascuas, the assistant branch manager, "immediately freaked out," he said, telling Siebel she had heard of similar devices elsewhere but not in New York City.

Pascuas then called Chase security and sent Siebel on his way. "I asked her if she wanted my details and if I should file a police report but she said no," Siebel said.

The Consumerist first broke the story. Here are some other ATM-skimmer links.

And isn't easier to just crash a van into the ATM and haul it off...?

For further reading on EV Grieve:
Avenue ATM (aka, how many stupid ATMs does one block need?)

Avenue ATM (aka, how many stupid ATMs does one block need?)

A new ATM was recently installed in front of the China Wok on Avenue B at Third Street....



Fine, though there was already an ATM across the street by Mama's Bar...



and one a few feet away farther south on Avenue B...



and one a few feet farther than that on the same side of the Avenue...



and two directly across the street from these...



Not to mention the ATM outside the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union on the northeast side of Avenue B at Third Street.

Thank you very little

And did you see Citi's fancy gatefold ad with Mary J. Blige in the New Yorker?



Meanwhile, in the Post today:

A new Citigroup scandal is engulfing Robert Rubin and his former disciple Chuck Prince for their roles in an alleged Ponzi-style scheme that's now choking world banking.

What banks become

First things first. There's a Vitamin Shoppe coming to the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue at the site of the former First Federal Savings and Loan Association. This thing had been carved up some time ago. I recall it being one of the last Love Stores...and more recently a Duane Reade.




This spot makes perfect sense for a store that sells vitamins given that GNC is one block away on the corner of 13th Street and First Avenue.



Anyway, seems as if so many of the city's impressive old banks have all been turned into, say, high-end food shops, condos, performance spaces, clothing stores, etc., in recent years. This topic was discussed in a February 2005 Times article.

Why build such evocative Greek temples to begin with? To inspire confidence. When the United States economy collapsed in the Panic of 1893, many people blamed banks for the depression that followed and withdrew their money.
So, banks built in that era (until the end of the Great Depression, when banks began to demystify themselves with glass-fronted branches) were meant to suggest strength, as if they had been there forever.

I'm sure the new generation of high-end clothing stores appreciates these qualities in a building.

BOA unveils new plan to combat rising consumer debt

At 110 Third Ave.

Important notice: We spent all your money

Thought that's what it said for a minute.

Things that I missed: The bank branch switcheroo!

Well, when did this happen? The last week or two? I had read about the TD Bank-Commerce merger last year...Anyway, that sparkly old Commerce Bank on Third Avenue and 10th Street is now a TD Bank.

But will the FD be as nice as the old Commerce? As Forbes noted:

[W]ill it be good for Commerce customers, who have grown used to a decidedly "non-bank" attitude? Time will tell. TD Bank will have to navigate that slippery slope carefully so as not to damage what they just bought. Commerce is prized for its ability to generate deposits (28% growth annually) and simultaneously spend on perks that many other banks have long ago abolished in the interest of cost savings.
Those perks include things like weekend and late night hours, lollipops and free pens, free coin sorting machines for everyone (even non-customers), and wide open branch lobbies that look more like auto showrooms than bank branches.

Well, they are still dog friendly at least.

And they hired the Reg and what's-her-name as spokespeople!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Any more friendly and I would have thought that I was at the DMV

27 years, 1 dumpster

Money! Get your money!

In the Flatiron District.

Another view of the coming recession

Last Tuesday, Jeremiah had a post with a photo of "the recession" graffiti at the "coming soon" Capital One branch on 8th Street and University. Meanwhile, I just saw the front page of last Friday's Washington Square News:



I really like this shot by WSN photog Ben Norman. Perhaps this will be one of the iconic images of this time in NYC...

BOA not DOA

What bank branch glut? Esquared reports that there's a new Bank of America branch opening Monday on Canal and Broadway. Say goodbye to the vendors and makeshift stores on the northeast corner.

An end to the bank branch glut?

Some passages from a Times article today:

[I]t seems highly likely there will be some branch closings and that the dynamics of the market for retail space in Manhattan could be altered, although not immediately.

Brokers say that eventually Chase will almost certainly want to shut some branches once Washington Mutual has been absorbed.

Chase has 121 full-service branches in Manhattan, and WaMu has opened about 45.

But shedding excess branches may prove problematic. For one thing, WaMu signed most of its New York leases in the last four years. Banks tend to favor 15-year leases, so a lot of these leases may have 11 to 14 years left before they expire.

Welcome to our pretty bank branch

We've written before about the increase in bank robberies in NYC this year. Fancy bank branches abound on seemingly every corner of some East Village streets. It's so convenient! On the topic of the increase in bank robberies, the Times makes this observation today:

A look at the data shows that bank robbers seem to prefer some of the inviting environments of the newer banks on the city scene. Sovereign, Wachovia and Commerce — with plants arrayed on marble floors, jars of lollipops set on low-slung counters and no bullet-resistant barriers between tellers and customers — have some the highest ratios of robberies to branches.

I wonder when bank officials will realize these sparkly new branches are in the middle of an enormous metropolitan area, and not in Pleasantville USA...

Crime stat of the day: Bank robberies up 57 percent in NYC this year

"There are a lot more desperate people," a law-enforcement source told the Post. There have been 263 bank heists in the Big Apple this year, compared with 168 in the same period last year, sources said. That's an increase of 56.5 percent. Perhaps it's more tempting -- or convenient? -- to rob a bank these days since there are bank branches on nearly every corner.

The Financial District continues to attract interesting new businesses

At Maiden Lane and Gold Street. (This was a Burger King at one point, though the storefront has been vacant for four-plus years.)

At Water Street and Maiden Lane.

All this will go perfectly with the other businesses on Maiden, such as Duane Reade, Subway, Papa John's, Chipotle, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts...

But of course (And a look back at 110 Third Ave.)

So what's new at 110 Third Ave.? (Or, shall I say One Ten Third Ave.?)


And this branch won't haven't any of that panhandling (they spell it pan handling, meaning someone who handles pans? Or something to hold hot pots with?) or nonbanking business!



Meanwhile, a moment of silence for the old 110 Third Ave. (Sigh.)


RIP, June 2005.

[Photo courtesy of Patrick Crowley]

And, of course, 110 Third Ave.'s place in cinematic history:

I had this dream in which I woke up and every corner in the city was now a condo, bank and Duane Reade

Then I woke up for real and.....AHHHHHHHHHH!

Soon we'll be saying, "At least it's not a Starbucks AND a bank"

Are there that many Starbucks/bank combos around town? (This one only shares an entrance -- the businesses are separate. But the thought of them together...) I've never paid much attention. Saw this one om Sixth Avenue in the 50s. Actually, it was handy. I could use the ATM to get enough money to buy a cup of coffee. [Booing myself]

Any more friendly and I would have thought that I was at the DMV

So I had a stack of coins that I needed to cash in. Will usually lug them over to the Coinstar machine at the Food Emporium. Easy enough.

Meanwhile, I always walk by the newish Commerce Bank branch on 10th Street and Third Avenue. Made something of a vow to never go into any of the 37 bank branches that have opened in this three-block radius. Still. The bag was heavy. Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light...Anyway, Commerce doesn't charge a fee for the coin machine. Plus, I figured I'd save a few blocks of needless exercise. And I was curious about the spiffy new branch. I was immediately greeted by a Commerce hostess/representative. She took me over to the coin machine. She asked me if I had ever used one before. I said yes. So she showed me how to use the machine anyway, and explained that there was some contest in which I could try to guess the total amount of coins. She went about all this as if she was the prom queen forced by her mother to be nice to the kid with the thick glasses and asthma. (I don't wear glasses or have asthma. But you get the idea.)

After the coin counting had ended (I missed my guess by $25!), I stood in line with my coin receipt to hand to a teller. There were three tellers working. And no line. Each teller had his or her head down, intently working on something. I stood there for a few awkward minutes before I started coughing, clearing my throat, etc., to perhaps alert the tellers that someone was standing there. Finally a teller motioned me forward. The machine didn't take a Susan B. Anthony $1 coin. I asked the young man if they were still in circulation. (Perhaps this might be worth, say, $1.15 now!) He sighed and said yes. I asked him then if I could please trade it in for a bill. "As you wish," he said. At the end, I said "thank you." He did not.

East 10th Street just off Second Avenue, 7:50 a.m., March 23

Too many bank branches? Too many Sarah Marshall movie ads? Too many small businesses like Fontana Shoes closing?

"Can someone explain to me the advantage of having bank branches on every damned corner?"

The art of smiling had a short post that was in reaction to the news of Sophie's as reported by Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

Margaret, the author of the post, shared what a lot of us think these days about the East Village and Lower East Side: "...at this point I'm more surprised to see anything that's still as I remembered it. The last time I was at Russ & Daughters, I bought my pickled herring from the son of one of the daughters, a man I remember from years ago, and I said I hoped they would be there forever; he smiled and said they weren't going anywhere, and in fact they were thinking of expanding. Moishe's Bakery and Ben's Cheese are gone, but Yonah Schimmel's Knishes is still there, dirty as ever.

Can someone explain to me the advantage of having bank branches on every damned corner?"