How to stop 'Contactless' transactions

pjsmiffy

I have a contactless mastercard from MBNA/Virgin The Chip (Metal Square on left side of the card) is more heavily patterned than the other cards I have so this is where I assume the transmitter is. The basic Tech is the same at security tags that shops use. (Honorific thought what a modified security scanner could do)
I read somewhere that AmEx generated a separate card number for wireless accounts but Mastercard use the SAME 16 digit number.
My Local Mac D (Newport S Wales) now has a contact less card reader no bigger than a normal chip and pin machine.
I feel uneasy about it as there is nothing to stop the card being stolen and used.

And the real Hustle may dramatise the situations but they do show cons and how easily they can be done.

briankelleher

vuvuzela wrote: »

To get the details from a cheque, you need to get the cheque.

You write your details on a piece of paper (which can be easily forged). In a shop, the person puts it in a drawer. Then at some later stage, someone takes it out of the drawer, then carries it to a bank, where someone accepts it and puts it into your account. So that's at least three people who can very easily get to your cheque.

Or if you use a cheque to pay for someone by post, you put it in an envelope and leave it in a box on the street. Then someone fetches it out of the box and puts it in a bag in the back of a van. Later, someone takes the bag out of the van and empties it on a table. Then a system of people sort it and put it in a pigeon hole. Then someone wraps it up and puts it in another bag. Then someone takes it to the recipient. There someone opens the envelope, and sorts it by the service you're paying for. Then someone else picks it up, notes the payment's been done, and sticks the cheque with the others to get cashed. Then the above starts. I make that at the very least ten people who could steal the cheque, take the details including your signature, forge it all in a room and use your account to pay for as many things as they can get away with before someone, eventually, realises your cheques are being forged, never mention the fact that you've left your account number, sort code, address and signature in a box on the street overnight.

And you're telling me this is safer than a card that you can pay a max of £15 off, where you're about 105% likely to be on camera at the time, but if you lose it the bank can stop it immediately, and the bank will refund you if there's fraud?

richard734

I may be being overly dismissive, but why all the sudden panic?? Some of these posts could have been written by Daily Mail journalists!! Breaking news, this technology has been in your pocket for at least 3 years. I have been using my Nationwide debit and Tesco Credit cards for contactless transactions in the USA since at least 2008. Proper ones, with no signature or pin required.

full-time-mum

Racer123 wrote: »

The contactless cards will do random checks where you will still be requested to enter your PIN.

It will also ask you every 5th transaction to enter the PIN number.

So the actual risk at £15 max per transaction is not that bad.

Personally, I can't afford to loose £15 never mind £75

elisebutt65

Make your own RFID proofed wallet? http://www.rpi-polymath.com/ducttape/RFIDWallet.php

DataWraith

izools wrote: »

Right but the pocket devices that can read within 6-12 inches are, well, pocket sized.

All a fraudster would need to do is walk around crowded places with the thing in his front / back pocket collecting details onto a smartphone, and no one would notice - he / she would be able to collect the details of everyone who kept their cards in their pocket who walked within about a foot of their own pocket. Wouldn't around any suspicion in any busy, metropolotain area really...

Sounding totally paranoid but I agree with you, crims will be wetting themselves over this new gadget designed to make your lives easier , thats why when I get my new barclaycard I'll be investing in a RFID blocking wallet such as these....

http://www.smartcardfocus.com/shop/ilp/se~102/p/index.shtml?gclid=CMm-1v7_t6kCFcJP4QodVjkQ8w

DataWraith

full-time-mum wrote: »

Personally, I can't afford to loose £15 never mind £75

No one can these days but if you had a few bad eggs roaming around collecting data then who's to say a few £15's taken out of your account is bad?
You won't notice until its too late and then you have to chase the banks or the money back.
The banks aint going to care about a couple of £15 transactions going out of your account and trying to explain to them that you DIDN'T spend the money is like talking to a wall.

chopper78

DataWraith wrote: »

Sounding totally paranoid but I agree with you, crims will be wetting themselves over this new gadget designed to make your lives easier

Real criminal gangs that will invest in the technology necessary to go around reading all your contactless payment cards will be able to buy coffees from starbucks, big macs from McDonalds, pasties from Greggs and maybe even travel on busses... AT YOUR EXPENSE.

Whilst losing out on the £15 to us sounds harsh, the reality is that it simply isn't worth it for the criminal gangs. They cannot withdraw money with it, they cannot buy expensive tangiable goods which can be sold and turned into cash. They cannot convert contactless payment information into cold hard green, only into a bite to eat, so it isn't worth it.

I have a contactless barclaycard and have been disappointed with the lack of places I can use it.

M_Thomson

chopper78 wrote: »

Real criminal gangs that will invest in the technology necessary to go around reading all your contactless payment cards will be able to buy coffees from starbucks, big macs from McDonalds, pasties from Greggs and maybe even travel on busses... AT YOUR EXPENSE.

Whilst losing out on the £15 to us sounds harsh, the reality is that it simply isn't worth it for the criminal gangs. They cannot withdraw money with it, they cannot buy expensive tangiable goods which can be sold and turned into cash. They cannot convert contactless payment information into cold hard green, only into a bite to eat, so it isn't worth it.

I have a contactless barclaycard and have been disappointed with the lack of places I can use it.

Where do you live? They're in loads of places in London. Boots take them and Tesco have started rolling them out in stores.

briankelleher

DataWraith wrote: »

The banks aint going to care about a couple of £15 transactions going out of your account and trying to explain to them that you DIDN'T spend the money is like talking to a wall.

Oh so you already have experience with people stealing from your contactless card? Do tell us all the story.