Bank of Butterfield customers beware ? cancelling a stolen ATM card won?t necessarily stop the account being raided if you are abroad and it?s outside of business hours.

Customer Gary Pankhurst made this discovery after losing his card in Miami during last year?s Queen?s Birthday holiday in June.

He had around $3,000 stolen ? most of which the bank has refunded but only after a long battle.

Mr. Pankhurst said he was shocked the card was still used by the thief even after he had reported it missing and was only stopped two days later when the Bank of Butterfield re-opened on Tuesday morning.

He said the public should be warned that phoning the bank didn?t necessarily render the missing card useless.

The bank told that if a credit or debit card is lost during the week the customer can call the Bermuda office and will be cancelled. It cannot be used at any ATM or to make any purchase.

But during the weekend and holidays there is a difference between debit and credit cards. If you lose your credit card out of hours it will be cancelled and cannot be used at an ATM or to make a purchase.

However if you call to cancel your debit card it will be cancelled for all purchases but because the debit card ATM system is based in Bermuda, it is possible to use an ATM ? but only if the customer has compromised his or her PIN. A report is sent by the out-of-hours service to Bermuda to cancel the ATM use and this is done as soon as the office opens again.

Mr. Pankhurst said: ?What if a robber beat the ATM number out of me? I can?t immediately phone the cancel line and stop it??

He believes only a determined effort to get a response from the bank, including e-mailing, faxing and hand delivering his complaint led to him getting a refund which he said was done in a begrudging manner after he had threatened legal action.

However the island?s other main bank, Bank of Bermuda, has said its customers are safe once they make a report.

A spokesperson said: ?In the case of lost or stolen Bank of Bermuda credit cards or Debit cards, customers can call the Bank?s Credit Card Services Department on 299 5518 and select the appropriate option to report a card lost or stolen.

?Upon cancellation, all transactions, including point of sale and ATM are blocked immediately.?

Mr. Pankhurst faired better than his friend Darrel Mellor who lost $1,000 after losing his card a few hours earlier on the same trip.

The bank has refused to refund money because it says the money was taken from ATM machines using PIN numbers. But both men say they did not reveal their numbers.

However Police are puzzled by the theft.

Inspector Eddie Davies, who spent 13 years in fraud, said ATM numbers could be cracked if the card was stolen with a wallet containing other information.

He said: ?Generally if you use someone?s date of birth as a pin number you will be successful 15-20 percent of the time.?

This becomes a big problem if someone swipes a driver?s licence along with an ATM card, said Insp. Davies.

Others foolishly choose the last four digits of their telephone number for a PIN which also might be contained in the wallet.

Other frauds alleged to have occurred elsewhere in the world include people inserting plastic holders into ATM slots and then watching a customer punch in their numbers.

When the card fails to come out the customer believes the card has been swallowed and departs, leaving the waiting fraudster to collect the card and raid the account.

But both men said the cards were taken on their own at different times and they did not reveal the PINs to anyone.

Mr. Pankhurst said: ?Darrell lost his and I was laughing at him. It wasn?t until next morning I realised mine was missing as well.?

He said it was possible someone could have seen him punch the number in and then pickpocketed the card later and he said the bank had not confirmed his PIN had been used in the fraud.

The theft left him seriously out of pocket and led him to cancel a trip home for a wedding.

And Mr. Mellor said he felt angry that the bank did not seem to take his problem seriously despite his concern that his ID number had been used and his account robbed.

A print-out revealed the thief had taken out a total of $1,000 from three ATMs in the space of half an hour while three transactions for a total of $340 had not gone through.

He said: ?I am angry. No one really got back to me even after I sent a letter and filled in two dispute forms.?

He said he was eventually charged $25 for a replacement card and then sent another with the same card number as the one that had gone missing.

Lloyd Wiggan, Senior Vice President of Bank of Butterfield?s Retail Banking, said: ?A PIN (personal identity number) is only known by the customer ? it is not held by the Bank or the credit card company.

?For this reason, customers are responsible for keeping their PIN completely confidential, as only they can protect themselves by keeping their PIN safe. We advise customers to keep their PIN in strictest confidence and not share it with anyone or write it down anywhere.

?The Bank does all in its power to protect customers from fraud, where it has the ability to do so.

?However, as PIN numbers are not known by the Bank, each customer is responsible for keeping it safe. Additionally, as happened in this case, customers should report their card is missing as soon as they notice it is lost.

?We are concerned that a customer feels unhappy with our service and thank him for his feedback. However, we can not comment on individual customer interactions as they are confidential.?