Another Contactless Card Query

thebritishbloke

jclc wrote: »

But is that why he wants the receipts ? To cross check the credit card statements ?

I know some people have their own ways of budgeting etc, but I don't see how this is entirely necessary. Either way, you should be getting receipts regardless of it being contactless or not.

True, but who wants all the bother and hassle of contacting the bank to sort the problem out ?
We are told that the advantage of a contactless card is a speedier transaction when you are paying for goods. Mmm ... about 3 or 4 seconds ?? Wow !! that's a real benefit. Just think of the things you can do with all that extra time saved !!
Personally, (and no doubt many will disagree), but I don't think it's worth it for the increased security risk albeit it small.
First Direct, (excellent customer service), gave me a contactless card, but when I asked them to issue me with a non-contactless one, they gave me one straight away.

If you lost a card, be it contactless or not, you're still going to have to contact the bank to sort it out, so it's the same amount of hassle either way. I've had contactless cards for 2 years, it's convenient in pubs when the card machine is miles away and theres people all up at the bar, I just hand the barman my card and get him to do the contactless, he gives me a receipt, job done.

eddddy

Back to your original question...

BobQ wrote: »

...
This was to do with people walking by the owner in the street skimming the odd £20 via contactless transactions.

Is this still a problem? (Was it ever a problem?)
Are there any other pitfalls?

There's a lot of mis-conception about this. My understanding is that there are 2 potential threats:

Threat 1) A smartphone (or similar device) is able to read card numbers, name, expiry date for some cards. (i.e. The same info that is embossed on the fronf of the card.)

So, for example, a fraudster may now be able to use this info to make online orders at website with weak security... one that doesn't use CVV, check home addresses, or use Verified by Visa etc.

In my experience, with this kind of online transaction, it just needs single call to the CC company and they will do a chargeback without question.


Threat 2) In theory, a business that has a CC merchant account could get a mobile wireless contactless card reader - maybe like this one:



I guess the business owner could key in a £20 transaction and wander around holding the reader near peoples wallets and purses.

But as people check their statements and report unauthorised transactions, the bank will notice lots of claims against that specific business, and presumably investigate. If the bank is suspicious, at the very least the business would lose their merchant account, I'd guess.


Perhaps the risk increases if 'Paypal Here' and iZettle card readers start accepting contactless payments - or perhaps they will never allow it for security reasons.

Idiophreak

thebritishbloke wrote: »

They didn't seem to understand that if someone did steal your money, the bank will just refund it.

..which is great, if you notice it's gone.

TBH I rarely check every transaction on my cards, but I'd be happier thinking there was no way of people nicking the stuff without me noticing

Sarah7

jclc wrote: »

We are told that the advantage of a contactless card is a speedier transaction when you are paying for goods. Mmm ... about 3 or 4 seconds ?? Wow !! that's a real benefit. Just think of the things you can do with all that extra time saved !!

Yeah, but... you're only considering the narrow perspective of a single transaction.

Imagine that you're 1 out of 12 people boarding a bus when it stops to pick up passengers. I'd contend that the time saving if everyone uses contactless technology instead of paying cash for a ticket could sometimes be more than 3 or 4 seconds; but let's just call it a 5 seconds each to make the calculations easy anyway.

It might then be only 5 seconds faster for your transaction, however that's 60 seconds for the entire queue of people to board the bus. It can't set off until every person has boarded and paid, so the overall result is that everyone benefits from the bus getting on the move 1 minute sooner and similar at every subsequent stop too... the little savings soon add up to a worthwhile amount!