People in Ho Chi Minh City are finding mutiple ways to prevent themselves from being electrocuted while withdrawing money at the ATMs. It was reported about 110 ATMs in the city are sending electric surges and the State Bank of Vietnam has just issued a decision to check and review the entire ATM system in the whole country.
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| A girl is uncertain about whether to use the ATM. |
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Avoiding the ATM. |
The recent death of a 12 year-old school girl caused by electric shock when accidentally touching an Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (Agribank) ATM on April 4 has troubled many people.
Phuc Anh, from Ton That Thiep Road, District 1 said since the news came up and because he was once a victim, Phuc Anh has stopped going to the ATMs. "At the end of last year, while I was withdrawing my money from a Vietcombank ATM in District 1, I received some kind of electric shock, luckily it was not so serious, but now someone has died from touching an ATM so I cannot help but worry," added Phuc Anh.
Hoai, from Go Vap District, received a new bank replacement card for her lost one two days ago, but doesn't want to go to the ATM to activate her account and change her PIN. Hoai shared, "I am very worried about this problem. Many of my colleagues are having the same concern when we heard that more than 100 ATMs in Ho Chi Minh City are emitting electricity. We don't dare to withdraw money at the ATMs and have instead gone to the banks branch office to take money out."
Thao, from Doc Lap Road, Tan Phu District, bought herself an electrical tester over the weekend and shared, "My neighbour showed me and had bought one for every member in her family. It's never wrong to use caution! From now on, I will use my electrical tester everytime I am at an ATM."
Many people have started to wear gloves and plastic-bottom shoes as a means for protection against electric shock when going to the ATM. The time people used to spend mingling at the ATM has also reduced significantly. No one wants to hang around the ATM nowadays. "It used to be that after withdrawing my money, I always counted to check that it was the exact amount, but now as soon as I get the cash, I leave straight away," one customer said after taking money out of a ACB Bank's ATM on Nguyen Van Troi Road, Phu Nhuan District.
Mr. Tran Dung, head of the Power Technical Safety and Labour Protection Department (Ho Chi Minh City Electricity Company) said that after the sad incident, the authorities had coordinated with the banks to investigate and check all ATM machines in the city.
The result of the investigation showed 118 ATMs have electrical leakages and do not meet regulated safety standards. The power of those ATMs have been cut and now sealed for repairs. The Electric Company has written to and required all the banks who are responsible to fix the problem in the shortest possible time.
According to initial reports, the cause for electrical leakages at those ATMs is due to lack of ground wire or the ground wire system of these machines did not meet the requirements. Besides that, some ATM's power transmission wire is too old which subsequently causes electrical leakages.
The State Bank of Vietnam has required all banks to immediately check their ATM system in order to ensure safety for bank users nationwide.
