Originally Posted by mrp20

this is also something to watch out for with ATMs abroad, too--even with ATMs that dispense local currency, and even though there's not much that can be done to avoid it.

you might expect these sorts of shenanigans if you're getting your home currency at a foreign bank's ATM, but this happened to me recently while withdrawing mexican pesos from an ATM in mexico with a US debit card.

after recognizing a US debit card and without asking or notifying me, the ATM's bank apparently conducted the transaction in dollars it later claimed it was buying at some awful rate and (on top of that) passing along *their* foreign transaction fee to me--all while only showing only the amounts you're taking out in local currency on the screen. i don't remember the name of the bank anymore, but it was not a small or shady-looking ATM in a small town, either.