What records may an ATM retain?¶

An ATM may generate more evidence than the customer’s bank statement shows.

Avoid this assumption: The withdrawal entry is the only record worth obtaining.

The ATM operator may retain a transaction journal showing the terminal ID, location, date, time, card details in masked form, transaction type, amount requested, authorisation result and whether cash was dispensed.

The machine may also record failed attempts, balance enquiries, PIN failures, card retention, partial cash dispense, cash-jam errors and reversals.

Some ATMs retain electronic journals that link terminal events to the issuer’s transaction reference.

CCTV may show the person using the machine, surrounding activity, vehicles or associates. Its retention period may be short.

The machine operator and card issuer may hold different records. The issuer may show authorisation and account impact, while the ATM operator may show physical terminal events.

Service and fault logs can also matter where the user says cash was not received or the amount dispensed was wrong.

Preserve the exact ATM identifier, location, timestamp, amount, transaction reference and card details as displayed.

Ask whether the terminal clock was accurate and what time zone it used.

Obtain the journal, cash-dispense result, fault records, CCTV and any reversal information.

Do not assume that a debit means cash was successfully collected. The machine may have failed, retained the cash or triggered a later reversal.

Equally, do not assume that CCTV alone identifies the cardholder without supporting evidence.

When reporting, distinguish the issuer record, ATM journal, cash-dispense event and visual evidence.

Operational takeaway¶

Obtain ATM journals, dispense records, fault logs and CCTV alongside the issuer record so the financial and physical events can be compared.