In light of a recent rise in fraud at ATMs, Citibank is lowering the daily cash withdrawal limit for some customers. The company says this only affects a small number of customers in New York City, but it’s still causing a flap. Citibank says they are investigating and working with police, but they’re not giving any other details.

In 2006, Citibank restricted ATM access for customers traveling in Canada and Russia. It was later revealed that ATM numbers and PIN numbers had been stolen, prompting this action.

Consumer advocates say this move by Citibank is unfair, yet I don’t know how they can really criticize the bank for trying to protect customers. If a customer’s bank account is stolen from because of this ATM problem, a customer could lose money that will take a while to replace. While a credit card customer isn’t liable for fraudulent charges on a credit card, when fraudulent charges occur through a debit card, the money is quickly gone and the customer may have to wait to have the money put back into their account. Certainly enacting some stricter limits on cash withdrawals for a period of time is preferable to the loss of money from a fraud?