On April the 5th, there was an open meeting arranged by the US Embassy at the Inguat office here in La Antigua. It was chaired by the US Consul Kay L. Anske and the room was filled with mainly Dutch and US victims of the ATM credit card scams that have plagued La Antigua for many months.
Many representatives of the leading banks were invited. However, an increasingly agitated audience put the general manager of BAC (Credomatic) under the spotlight. Based on information from the meeting, it seems almost all the problems originated from the BAC ATM machines, located next to Central Park.
As this has been affecting so many tourists, Qué Pasa has been following the story very closely. In the February 2011 edition, I wrote an article, “Scammed in Antigua”, which can be found online at www.grupoquepasa.com/other/scammed-in-antigua.
We have received numerous online comments; if you have been a victim or just want to have your say, then please do contribute to the dialogue, and also put pressure on your embassy.
If you are new to La Antigua, then I would personally advise you not to use the BAC (Credomatic) ATMs for the moment.
Scott Stanton
Publisher
English 
Spanish 
BAC is not about integrity and honesty.
Unfortunately there ability to cause inconvenience by taking unauthorized amounts of cash is not just limited to the ATM’s.
I have had many polite disagreements over theft from my account.
The most recent is a present problem with a Cheque with a incorrect spelling..I admit this was my error.. OK So the Company returns the Cheque to me no problem I write another Cheque..
BUT BAC thinks its reasonable to charge me for this?. nearly TEN $$’s
to say sorry we cannot except this Cheque.
I wanted to speak with Luis the general Manager but he was busy working on the ATM’s, the only message that I got back from the helpful girl Silvia was that there is nothing that can be done about this charge as it is a DIPLOMATICAL Internal charge and we can not reverse what has been taken.
Anyway I said to Sylvia, I will leave it with you and if nothing can be done about the cost I will make a complaint in the Libro de Quejas..
Every company has this complaints book.
I will be writing here on my return to BAC..
If everyone wrote a little thank-you here it would certainly create some Internal attention I am sure.
My sincere feelings to all that have been robbed and abused..
Thanks for continuing to report on this important issue/problem Scott.
I’m definitely not using that ATM with the skull & crossbones on the screen