by Duncan James
***
Robin re-doubled his efforts to convert his old credit card into the new format he had designed. Knowing he was soon to meet the great Sergei Volkov, he spent every moment he could working on the project, often late into the night. He was soon ready to start trials, and fortunately Marian's new card had also now arrived, so he was able to experiment with two rather than just the one.
"You know, Marian," he said "there is one great problem with all this."
"Only one?" she queried.
"I really meant one problem with conducting trials," he replied. "We have to carry them out at a real bank in a real cash machine. However sure I am that my new system will work, that is the only way of being sure."
"So?"
"So, if the trial doesn't succeed, I run the risk of loosing the card. The machine will keep it, and there's no way I can just wander in to the bank and ask for it back. And that means that when they do eventually get the card out of the machine, it will have my name and card number embossed on the front, so they will know who has been trying to interfere with their system."
"But why can't you just go in and ask for your card back?" asked Marian. "They are not to know why the machine kept the card, are they? If they should put it into the machine themselves or test it in some way, they will simply find that the magnetic strip has been wiped clean for some reason, won't they? They will put that down to a fault in their AMT, rather than suspect you of anything illegal."
Robin thought for a moment.
"You know, you could just be right. I must hope that the cash machine does return the card, but if it doesn't, perhaps I can act all innocent and go in to complain."
"And if they do keep the card to send it back for reprogramming, or something," concluded Marian, "you still have your new, 'real' card, and my old one as a blank for further tests."
"In that case," said Robin, "I think I'm about ready to try this out. I've checked everything I can here - the time has come to see if I can get money out of a hole in the wall from someone else's account. Yours!"
"Let's go then," said Marian.
It was early evening when they strolled into the City centre, and both felt quite nervous about their experiment. Fortunately, they both had accounts at the same bank, although at different branches. There was a branch at the Carfax, on the corner of the junction of four ancient routes into the centre of old Oxford. There were not too many people about, and nobody was queuing at the cash machine when they got there. As planned, Marian went first, and withdrew ?15 from her account. Robin followed immediately, and inserted his specially adapted card. The screen did not ask him to enter his PIN number, as it should have, but simply offered him the menu options. He chose 'cash with on-screen balance', pressed the ?10 button, and was told to wait - 'we are dealing with your request', said the machine. Marian was watching anxiously over his shoulder, as the machine issued two five pound notes, asked him if there was any further transaction he wanted, and, when Robin hit the 'no' button, returned his card to him. The screen thanked him for using the bank!
They turned away, and walked off in silence along the High Street.
"I need a drink," said Robin.
They crossed the road, and went into The Chequers.
"Glass of wine?" he asked Marian.
"Can we afford it?" she responded, with a grin
Suddenly the tension was gone, and they laughed as Marian slipped her arm through his.
"It works!" she whispered, as Robin ordered.
"Large or small?" asked the barman.
"Oh, I think we could manage a large one, don't you?" he said to Marian. She nodded, happily. "And a bag of chips, please," added Robin to the barman. "Cheese and onion."
As they settled with their drink, Robin said, "You know, I really can't believe that worked so well, first time."
"It certainly should have done - you spent enough time testing it out," replied Marian. "I am so proud of you."
"Well, you know what I have to do now," said Robin.
"Develop a security system that prevents anyone else doing what you've just done, I suppose," guessed Marian.
"Well, in time - yes," replied Robin, "But first I need to see if this card will work at other banks, even those where the cash machines charge users who don't hold an account there, and then I need to see if I can use it to get money from other people's accounts. There's no reason why not, but I need to be sure. I have to be able to demonstrate to the clearing banks what this card can do, and then show them the security system to combat the fraud - once I've developed it."
"So we have more testing to do," said Marian.
"Yes, we do, but it shouldn't take us long. We can always deposit the money we take out in our tests, so that our accounts don't take too much of a hammering!"
Marian frowned, and said, "You know, I'm uneasy about taking money from the account of a total stranger."
"So am I," agreed Robin. "But unless I let other people in on this, there's no real option."
"Perhaps we could trust Rupert and Freddie?" suggested Marian.
"They're no use," laughed Robin. "They're broke, and I shouldn't think we'd manage to get anything out of the bank using them! But perhaps I could try Jim a bit later. I shall soon need to take him into my confidence, as I shall need his help, but I think I need to develop the next stage first, if I can."
"And what's that? Remind me," said Marian.
"That is using the card to take money from a cash machine without needing to use someone's PIN number. It should be possible to by-pass that aspect of the system, and I think I may just know how to do it, but it will need a lot of experimentation. I shall effectively have to build the electronics of an ATM machine - I can't use the real thing, for obvious reasons."
"That could be difficult," commented Marian.
"It certainly could," Robin agreed, "but once I've copied the computer system which reads the information on cash and debit cards, then I should be able to develop a system which triggers the machine without needing any personal information. That will allow me simply to open the box, so to speak, and remove money from it."
"As a matter of interest, has Jim been working on such a scheme?" asked Marian.
"Not to my knowledge. So far as I can tell, his interest is the mainframe computers banks use, and beating them. That will be the area I concentrate on next, and that's where we can work together."
"Let's get back to the flat," said Marian. "We could try a different bank on the way."
"Good idea," said Robin. "I'll use my account this time - real card first and my home-made 'token' immediately afterwards. This should be fun!"
The bank they used did, in fact, make a charge for non-account customers, according to a notice on the machine. The amount withdrawn would attract a surcharge of ?1, which would show up on the customer's next statement.
Robin used his real card, and withdrew ten pounds. He then used his adapted card, and successfully took out another ten pounds.
"That's great!" said Marian. "It seems to work in any bank machine."
"It certainly should have done, and I'm very pleased," said Robin thoughtfully, "but I will be interested to see if I have to pay the surcharge twice."
During the days and nights that followed, Robin once again devoted his efforts to achieving the next stage of his battle to beat the cash machines. He had now told his tutor of his particular interest in improving the security of the banking world's ATMs by first of all demonstrating how vulnerable to fraud they were. His tutor had agreed that it was an area worthy of study, so long as it did not distract him from his main degree syllabus. This support enabled Robin to use more of the University's own computing capability, and meant that he was no longer restricted to using his own machines at home. The increased power and flexibility now available to him, both at Trinity and at the Computing Laboratory in the Keble Road Triangle of the University Science area, saved him hours of work, especially in the difficult task of replicating the workings of t
he ATM machines themselves. He was able, using his new found support from his tutor, to obtain a good deal of useful information about the machines from both the Internet and from the manufacturers themselves.
Marian supported and encouraged him as best she could, making sure he ate proper meals and got as much rest as he could, as well as keeping him on track to attend important lectures for his degree course. She had her own studies to attend to, of course, but spent as much time as she could with him at their flat.
"It's such a pity you can't get more immediate help with this," she had said once. "Are you sure that Jim, or even Valya couldn't help in some way?" she asked.
"Not yet," he had insisted. "I am enjoying the challenge of cracking this myself, as I'm sure I shall soon, and I do now at least have the support in principal of my tutor and the use of the university's facilities. But once I've discovered how to trigger the cash dispenser without inputting any personal data, then I shall certainly need Jim's help to develop defensive mechanisms against my own development work, and to help with the next and far more difficult stage. I may then even ask Valya to work on part of that project with me - we shall have to see."
Some time after that, Marian returned to their flat one evening after a lecture to find Robin was not at home. That had never happened before. There was no note from him, or any other clue as to where he might be.
Naturally, she was worried, but decided at first that there was nothing much she could do about it, so bustled about as usual preparing something for their supper. But she could not get her mind off the suspicion that something could be wrong - even something quite serious, perhaps. What if the strain of the past few weeks had suddenly proved too much for him? Suppose he had suffered some sort of breakdown after his days and nights of relentless work? Where could he possibly have gone? Where might he be? Was he all right? Did he need help?
Eventually, her worst fears were allayed when he bustled in to the flat, face flushed and wearing a broad grin.
"Where have you been?" she asked. "I was beginning to get quite worried."
"Oh, I'm sorry my love," he replied. "I should have left a note - stupid of me."
He went over to her, put his arms round her and kissed her warmly.
"So where have you been?" she asked again.
"I've been to the bank," he replied. "In fact, I've been to all of them!"
He waved a bunch of notes in the air.
"The second card - it works!" he exclaimed jubilantly. "I suddenly thought it might at last, and simply couldn't wait to try it out, so I dashed off, hoping to be back before you got home."
"Oh, brilliant!" enthused Marian. "I really am so pleased for you after all this time and hard work." She kissed him again. "No snags?" she asked.
"None that I could discover," replied Robin. "I tried five different machines at five different banks, and took ten quid from each. I'm absolutely positive that the cash came straight from the ATM, and not from anyone else's account."
"But we should check, somehow," said Marian. "How can we do that?"
"I think I have checked, by taking cash from my own account using my real card, and then using the new card. So far as I can tell, the tenner from the new card did not come from my account."
"We could try the same thing with my account just to be sure," offered Marian.
"Let's do that," agreed Robin. "We should be able to double check tomorrow by getting a mini statement from the machine. That will tell us if the extra money came from our accounts or somewhere else. What's for supper?"
"Nothing that can't wait - I'm doing a spaghetti."
"Smells good," said Robin. "But let's nip off to the nearest bank before we eat, then we can settle down for the evening with a bottle of wine after we've eaten."
"It will be such a relief if you really have achieved your second objective," said Marian. "Perhaps then you will be able to relax a bit."
"I shall need to develop a security system to guard against both kinds of fraud," said Robin, as they headed off down the road. "That's where I may make a bit of money. But I shall probably get Jim involved in that, while we both try to get into the banks' main computer systems - that will not be nearly so easy. But the rewards for success will be well worth the effort, I should imagine."
"You really mustn't work too hard, my darling," said Marian. "We both have our final exams in a few months, and lots of study and research to do first."
"I know," agreed Robin. "Perhaps, if this really does work, as we shall discover finally tomorrow, we could take a few days off this weekend."
"That would be lovely," agreed Marian. "Let's take the Mini down to your parents, if they're not doing anything."
"Why not?" agreed Robin. "I might even get in a bit of fishing with the Padre, if he's about. I've been thinking for some time that I ought to give some thought to the moral aspects of what I've been doing - perhaps I could see what he thinks about it all."
"What will you do with the money you have taken from the bank, if that's actually what you've done?" asked Marian. "You can't keep it - that would be stealing."
"I've thought about that," Robin replied. "Unless you can think of some better way of disposing of it, I propose giving it to charity."