Contactless cards ?

indierocker85

It's funny you know, I have a nationwide debit card, and the bank didn't even realise my card was contact-less when I enquired why it didn't work when I tried buying £2 of potatoes!

It seems funny, they introduced chip and pin to combat fraud. Now they are opting for contactless, to save you having to use chip and pin. I mean, let's be honest, anybody could use a contactless card, and the shopkeeper would never know if it's definately that persons card or not!

Idiophreak

indierocker85 wrote: »

It seems funny, they introduced chip and pin to combat fraud. Now they are opting for contactless, to save you having to use chip and pin. I mean, let's be honest, anybody could use a contactless card, and the shopkeeper would never know if it's definately that persons card or not!

...but that's exactly the point.
We're really past the point of caring about that. Speed and convenience are far more important to the majority of consumers these days than security.

In days of old, when I worked retail, I used to do quite a few checks on a card when I took it.

1) Check hologram works
2) Inspect card visually for signs of tampering
3) Ensure card is signed
4) Rotate card in fingers to feel if signature strip has been tampered with
5) Common sense check the card. If it says Mrs, is it a woman presenting it?
6) Check signature
7) Ask for ID if not convinced by signature.

That was a whole bunch of protection for people with credit cards.

These days, the staff never even see the card...so I'm free to spend on my wife's card, my friend's card, or any other card that I happen to know the PIN to.

Contactless is just an extension of this...you just trust that the person presenting the card is doing so legitimately. If not, it's up to the bank concerned to make good.