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With stories of ATM skimming all over the news, I suddenly feel uneasy whenever I have to use the machine to withdraw cash or transfer money to pay my bills. I find myself wondering how the same technology that offers the convenience of a fashionable e-banking lifestyle is now becoming an open door for scam artists.

ATMs have made it easier to go about our daily business, and because of this convenience, some people have taken the use of banking machines to another level altogether. Sometimes they spend up to thirty minutes on the ATM to complete a task that may otherwise take all day.

Like a dog, an ATM obeys your every command. Occasionally it goes haywire and tell you it’s out of paper and cannot print a receipt, and is therefore unable to complete your transaction. Sometimes when its halfway through dispensing your cash, it suddenly tells you that it’s unable to continue due to technical problems. The worst-case scenario is when the machine swallows your card.

Things like this can make you want to pull your hair out or bang on the machine until security intervenes and arrests you.

But when it comes to ATM skimming, all these other annoyances are nothing.

I remember how different it was back before ATMs existed. The mixed scent of old wood, damp walls and ceiling plaster mingled with evaporated sweat and fancy cigar smoke were typical of a bank.

The security guards and the lovely tellers behind the counter were ready to assist you. The bank staff called you by your first name. Heck, if you were lucky, some of the tellers would even actually go out with you.

Everyone had to go to the bank with their passbooks, fill in a form or two, give their signatures and queue up to withdraw money from a person with a real smile. OK, maybe just a slight grin, depending on the day.

Those were the days. Back then, robbing a bank just required ordering customers to put their hands up in the air while the vault was cleaned out.

Everything is so different now. You have the convenience of paying for things with electronic currency. It’s hassle-free, or so I thought.

You can now easily transfer money to your wife so she can have her hair done at some fancy salon. You can top up your daughter’s smartphone so she can continue to exist in her virtual social world.

You can pay your veterinarian electronically for giving your rottweiler its weekly rabies vaccine. You can be in the bathroom going about your personal business and can still receive notifications of incoming fund transfers on your cellphone.

However, these conveniences have their weaknesses. The old-fashioned method of robbing banks has become more advanced and high-tech, as the recent outbreak of ATM skimming has proved.

People had been robbed from right under their noses by the technology that was supposed to make their life easier. The clueless have seen their bank accounts emptied by those who have a better understanding of such technology.

In essence, has anything really changed from the old days of robbing a bank to the present, except how the crime is carried out?

I have become a member of the growing group of people who are afraid of ATMs. Whenever I use a bank machine, I have to check it thoroughly, making sure there is no data-reading device of some sort embedded inside the card reader to lift my personal information and my PIN.

I also have to be aware of my surroundings and look around to see if there’s any suspicious-looking person nearby. I look over my shoulder just to make sure that there isn’t anybody behind me.

I have also become selective of where I withdraw money. I feel for the victims.

But who’s to blame? Are bank customers obliged to find ways to avoid ATM-related mishaps? What has the government done to keep us — and our money — safe?

Until solutions can be found, I think I need to change my PIN number. Just in case.

Doli Tobing is a graphic designer with the Jakarta Globe.