MSE Blog: Don’t let contactless cards make you look a fool

Former_MSE_Guy

Hi all, this is a thread to discuss the MSE blog:

Don’t let contactless cards make you look a fool

"I’ve been getting nasty stares as I enter my local train station over recent weeks, like I’m some kind of pariah, for the heinous crime of my Oyster card not opening the gates quickly enough in the London rush hour...."

TwistedPsycho

I also found that Oyster Readers do not like Portsmouth NHS Trust ID cards (nor Portsmouth Hospitals like Oyster)

dealer_wins

Wait until we start getting charged 5 times for a single journey. On the Oyster card, debit card, credit card, mobile phone and arm implanted payment system.

Who will we complain to then!!!

callum9999

dealer_wins wrote: »

Wait until we start getting charged 5 times for a single journey. On the Oyster card, debit card, credit card, mobile phone and arm implanted payment system.

Who will we complain to then!!!

Apparently that's not possible as the machine tells you to only use 1 if more than 1 card tries to go through simultaneously.

Jammi

callum9999 wrote: »

Apparently that's not possible as the machine tells you to only use 1 if more than 1 card tries to go through simultaneously.

I have a combined contact-less Barclaycard and Oyster card(onepulse). With buses about to accept payments by contact-less credit card. I wonder how the system will decide which payment method to charge.

sly_dog_jonah

I've also started having issues with exactly the same Barclaycard Mastercard and Oyster combination, and had suspected this was the cause. Fortunately I only use the Oyster a couple of times a month when I come up to London. Will try rearranging my cards in my wallet next time I'm up (in fact my 18month old DD does this twice a week when I'm not looking).

danny_x

I don't use my Oyster card that often, but earlier this year it started triggering the "seek assistance" light at the barrier every time. Not much help when there's no staff, and if it was staffed they would just wave me through. My card is registered, so I checked online and found I was being charged for not touching in or out at the start or end of a journey. I managed to claim back the £10 or so a week it cost me after several phone calls. I thought the Oyster card must be faulty and changed it, but the same happened with the new one. I eventually twigged that my credit card had been renewed with a contactless card for the first time, and have had no problem since I started removed my Oyster card from my wallet each time I swipe it.

Nobody at TFL suggested that this might be the cause of the problem. Not surprising when they are making £61 million a year through Oyster malfunctions
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12139796

Mattie77

Contactless cards can also be read electronically by (presumably illegal) "readers". Someone has one of these "readers" in a small bag and passes close to your handbag or wallet pocket and picks up your information. A friend recently sent me this info from a TV news service in the States. They suggested wrapping the wireless card in metal - like tin foil - as this will disrupt the signal and safeguard your information. When you want to use it, just unwrap. Hope this helps.

nomoneytoday

Mattie77 wrote: »

Contactless cards can also be read electronically by (presumably illegal) "readers". Someone has one of these "readers" in a small bag and passes close to your handbag or wallet pocket and picks up your information. A friend recently sent me this info from a TV news service in the States. They suggested wrapping the wireless card in metal - like tin foil - as this will disrupt the signal and safeguard your information. When you want to use it, just unwrap. Hope this helps.

Why not just lock up all of your cards in a safe, and put the tin foil on your heads

Gromitt

Mattie77 wrote: »

Contactless cards can also be read electronically by (presumably illegal) "readers"

The readers are not illegal to purchase or use. Reading a card with one is also not illegal. Decrypting the contents of a contactless card for unauthorised use is the illegal part, but if that happens and is later used to defraud you, the most you'll lose is £45, and the bank will refund within 24 hours.

So just use a contactless credit card and a non-contactless debit card if you are that concerned about an unauthorised transaction putting you into unauthorised overdraft.

Rotti

Mattie77 wrote: »

Contactless cards can also be read electronically by (presumably illegal) "readers". Someone has one of these "readers" in a small bag and passes close to your handbag or wallet pocket and picks up your information. A friend recently sent me this info from a TV news service in the States. They suggested wrapping the wireless card in metal - like tin foil - as this will disrupt the signal and safeguard your information. When you want to use it, just unwrap. Hope this helps.

Have only just picked up on this thread as have just had my first contact with contactless cards. HSBC sent me one when my debit card expired and I didn't really take much notice - don't use the kind of places that take these like Starbucks and don't possess an Oyster Card, so really didn't know what it was all about. Until a policeman friend updated me that is! I was not aware that the information can be read from you just by someone walking past with a scanner - how ridiculous is that? And in an age of heightened security surely it is a backwards step in the name of convenience? They might only work for small transactions but if they clone enough of the same card they could hit you hard and then you are the one that has the hassle of getting the money back and being without a card while it is replaced. I called HSBC and was told a large survey was done - nobody surveyed me! I told them I didn't want ANY contactless cards as I considered them a liability and they are sending a chip and pin replacement. I have to wonder how many others there are out there who don't realise the full implications of these things.