Revolut card fraud - help!

grumbler

Stretlow wrote: »

You can skim a Mag stripe during a chip and pin transaction but you cant copy a chip.

I know, that's why cloned cards are normally used abroad where non-chip transactions are much more common.

Anthorn

eDicky wrote: »

During its six months (not counting the 3-month pilot), Revolut has acquired a substantial customer base, the vast majority of whom seem satisfied. On this forum the 20-page Revolut thread and the Prepaid Travel Cards thread feature relatively few issues and complaints. No doubt elsewhere there are also plenty of users' comments.

Therefore descriptions such as 'brand new', 'unproven', 'no track record' and 'we just don't know yet' have no factual basis. Assertions based on personal grudge that largely deviate from the reality are not useful to forum users.

How about some figures and proof that they are true?

"new" and "no track record" go together. If they were not new they would have a track record and vice versa.

Here's another fact: Revolut is not financially supported by any regulated bank. It's supported by venture capital which means it's risky but with potentially high rewards if it succeeds. What remains is a question: If Revolut fails who loses in the absence of a guarantee?

grumbler

Do you know any prepaid cards that are 'supported' by a 'regulated bank'?

All people using prepaid cards know well that FSCS doesn't apply to them.
Stop stating the obvious please, and, at last, answer the question: what relevance do all your insinuations have to the topic of this thread - cloning?

eDicky

Stretlow wrote: »

Incorrect. Fraud is rife in the this country the fact that youre making a chip and pin transaction has no bearing on the copying of a mag stripe. On the contrary, the reason they do it here (apart from the lax punishments) is because your chip and pin spend will transact as normal while your magstrip is being read on the way in or out for the terminal (most commly ATM's.

The duplicate card can be made and used across the world in a matter of hours....

So is there any general advice on minimising the risk of having your card cloned?

For example, is there any visible sign, or other possible indication, that a skimming device is fitted to a card terminal or ATM?

What about when your card's mag stripe is disabled - does that make it impossible or difficult to skim?

NiftyDigits

Anthorn wrote: »

How about some figures and proof that they are true?

"new" and "no track record" go together. If they were not new they would have a track record and vice versa.

Here's another fact: Revolut is not financially supported by any regulated bank. It's supported by venture capital which means it's risky but with potentially high rewards if it succeeds. What remains is a question: If Revolut fails who loses in the absence of a guarantee?

Don't you ever give it a rest?
Did you bother to read the T&C? If so, you would note that Revolut don't handle the card operation. Optimal Payments under the Paysafe Group do. So the card operation is certainly not a few months old as you are wont to suggest.
As aforementioned, you are apt to criticise every card operation that does not accept you or operate in exactly the way that you want.
Really... give it a rest.

Anthorn

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Don't you ever give it a rest?
Did you bother to read the T&C? If so, you would note that Revolut don't handle the card operation. Optimal Payments under the Paysafe Group do. So the card operation is certainly not a few months old as you are wont to suggest.
As aforementioned, you are apt to criticise every card operation that does not accept you or operate in exactly the way that you want.
Really... give it a rest.

No I don't very often give anything a rest when I know I'm right. I have already posted a link about the launch of Revolut which was barely six months ago. If the date in that link is wrong then pray tell when Revolut was launched, with evidence if you please.

But the times they are a-changing: Any action by the EU to regulate and limit prepaid cards and services is likely to hit the whole of the alternative financial (prepaid) market including Revolut hard and may force some of them out of business leaving their users up the creek. What I read from financial pundits is speculation on the EU's proposed legislation: "Will they or won't they"? But the likes of Secure Trust Bank and Fidor UK are likely to escape regulation and limitation because although they are prepaid they are regulated banks unlike Revolut and many others.
http://www.pymnts.com/news/bitcoin-tracker/2016/eu-targets-bitcoin-prepaid-to-curb-terrorism-financing/

Anthorn

grumbler wrote: »

Do you know any prepaid cards that are 'supported' by a 'regulated bank'?

Secure Trust Bank, Fidor UK.

grumbler

Anthorn wrote: »

Secure Trust Bank, Fidor UK.

Ah...
So all people that use prepaid cards for spending abroad are naive idiots. I've never heard of Fidor or Secure Trast Bank offering any good deal for spending abroad.

Account Fees Terms & Conditions Account set up £12.50 :eek: Monthly management fee £12.50 :eek: Replacement card £5.00 PIN issue/re-issue Free UK cash machine withdrawal £0.50 Overseas cash machine withdrawal £2.25 per transaction Overseas point of sale transaction 2.75% per transaction

Anthorn

grumbler wrote: »

Ah...
So all people that use prepaid cards for spending abroad are naive idiots. I've never heard of Fidor or Secure Trast Bank offering any good deal for spending abroad.

You are missing the point that a regulated bank provides more security than a new service without a track record which may or may not be fly-by-night. The great strength of most prepaid travel cards is that they are used over the short-term so any possible loss is limited. I'd say that anyone who keeps an amount of money on such cards which is beyond their immediate needs is a naive idiot.

christopher

However Anthorn, if you read the Optimal Card Services release you'd see that Revolut is effectively a customer-facing front-end to an existing B2B set of products and services.

Optimal Card Services (through their Paysafe brand) is:

• FCA approved to issue electronic money (an E-Money Authorised Electronic Money Institution)
• a Principal Member of MasterCard International

Whilst prepaid cards are not classed by the FSCS as being a 'deposit' due to their e-money status, they are covered by the Payment Services Directive.

(Other related reading re PSD2 changes for those unaware.)

So ultimately some of the risk to consumers is mitigated through UK regulation, at least to the same extent as other more widely known travel cards. At least with Revolut (et al) we can be confident that our deposit is safe whilst it's held by them.

Any prudent traveller would know not to take thousands of pounds or euros out with them. The same goes for prepaid cards as THEY ARE NOT A CREDIT CARD and do not benefit from FSCS s.75 protection. This is classic caveat emptor, but the balance of that inconvenience vs. the (so far) extreme convenience of how the Revolut product is presented makes it childishly simple to simply top up as and when you need it, as long as you have some form of Internet access.


The real novelty with Revolut is the self-service management through the app. I signed up today to make some purchases in Euros - simple, quick (instantaneous), easy to get my head around.

Where they won't gain traction as quickly as a 'trad' card is in their requirement to use an app for account management, and the lack of 24/7 support (who knows, it may come for an annual fee down the line). I bet most of their outgoings are on service charges to Optimal/Paysafe, core IT infrastructure, their MasterCard deal and salaries -- given they don't handle or hold customers' money.


I'm travelling abroad in a few months and I've ordered a physical card to go with the virtual one. A friend is going to Spain and said he'll give it a spin. We'll see how it goes... (alongside the on-demand blocking and unblocking of cards through the app, which is a useful anti-fraud feature).

I've also set up my card for a couple of recurring US Dollar payments to subscription services -- which up to now were made unfeasibly expensive (Google storage etc) due to my bank's own FX and foreign transaction charges.

That right there is another distinct advantage for us money-conscious consumers who want to just stop being ripped off by their bank. (Two decades of 'loyalty', and they still want to charge outrageous amounts on everything AND give me no interest on savings...)