On the night of September 4, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, during a routine alcohol checkpoint at the exit of the Santa Ana tunnel, agents of the municipal transit authority ATM stopped a car.
The passengers got out of the vehicle. One of them—a man in a shirt and tie—took out a yellow bank card and pressed it to his ear, as if making a phone call.
He was clearly trying to contact a lawyer, but instead of a smartphone, he was holding a debit card. Nearby, someone remarked, "But check if you dialed correctly."
The video quickly spread across social media. Users laughed at the absurd scene, and some even joked about a "contactless call."
ATM officially clarified: the detained man was not the driver, but merely a passenger. The man's name has not been disclosed, and no additional sanctions related to this incident have been reported.
Can this be dismissed as a mere curiosity, or should we reflect on how deeply alcohol can distort habitual actions?
The scene in Guayaquil became yet another example of how a routine check turns into a viral meme, and reality sometimes proves stranger than fiction.
