TRACEY BENDINGER | Culture | Contact
A local woman’s bank has stepped in today and put a block on her debit card for fear of it being scammed by someone from West Betoota.
However, The Advocate can confirm that Penny Oneill’s card was not stolen or scammed but being used recklessly by Penny herself.
The block came after Penny made a number of large withdrawals; $300 at a single ATM, $150 at McDonald’s, $174.65 in total at a Betoota bar and then another $40 on a taxi ride at 4:00 am in the morning.
Any human can see that there’s a pattern to this spending, but for the Bank of Betoota’s computer algorithm it was completely out of character and so it triggered a blockage.
It’s believed that Penny then had to call her bank and explain to them that he card wasn’t scammed, she had just been on a bender.
“Uh, yeah, those transactions were all me,” she said to the customer service representative based in Manila.
“I went on a bit of a tear on the weekend”
“Yep, the $150 at McDonald’s was me too, I shouted everyone in the store” she sheepishly explained.
After reopening the wounds of Saturday night for ten minutes and explaining what a tear was, Penny had her card unblocked.
The Advocate understands that Penny has imposed a spending ban on herself until her next paycheque, which is another 23 days away.
More to come.
