Contactless fraud

20aday

melanzana wrote: »

I have noticed though (with my bank anyway) that contactless transactions do not appear in "pending transactions" on my internet banking app. So it is an easy way to think you have loadsa dough when you don't really!!

Who do you bank with? Pending contactless transactions appear on my Lloyds Bank statement (online/using the app).

I do like contactless myself (especially Apple Pay) but I know not everyone does-perhaps try and tell the cashier you want to do Chip & PIN instead?

takman

Super_Whiskey wrote: »

The reason being that contactless cards don't need authorisation in the same way C&P transactions do. They're stored by the retailer in an 'offline' state before being processed as the terminal doesn't check that the account has enough cleared funds when you make the transaction that's why they take a little longer to show but also why it's an almost instant process.

I tried to use Halifax contactless when I knew I was a couple of pounds short and was going to transfer the money over after, but it immediately declined the card. I then tried another contactless card with money in the account and it worked right away.
So I don't know if this was just a coincidence or if it actually checked if I had funds.

masonic

takman wrote: »

I tried to use Halifax contactless when I knew I was a couple of pounds short and was going to transfer the money over after, but it immediately declined the card. I then tried another contactless card with money in the account and it worked right away.
So I don't know if this was just a coincidence or if it actually checked if I had funds.

Any transaction that falls back to cardholder verification is completed online because, while there is a mechanism for offline PIN authentication, there are still flaws in the protocol so the specification currently excludes use of offline PIN verification. So that could result in a balance check and decline prior to the PIN challenge.

pvt

I stand to be corrected, but I understood that retailers are only allowed to use contactless payment if the card device is directly connected to the PoS terminal.

So to commit fraud in the way people have described the assistant would have to enter additional transactions on the till - and if they did that they wouldn't be able to pocket the dosh, or the EoD balance will come up short.

The same system works in the US where low value CC payments are taken by food establishments just swiping the card through the till or PoS terminal and handing it back - again, the facility is only available when the payment device is linked to the PoS terminal and not a standalone CC device.

AnotherJoe

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

I would imagine so, if the person swiping doesn't see the screen. You spend £5 in a shop, the shop assistant also puts thru £10 cashback, you swipe without looking at a total of £15 and leave; the shop assistant pockets the £10.

They would have to set that all up in advance though so if you spotted it it would be very difficult for them, to talk their way out of that, sounds very unlikely. You'll need to come up with a more plausible scenario.

gunsandbanjos

msallen wrote: »

Given that 1 in every (approximately) 10 to 20 transactions a contactless user is asked to key in their PIN, the fraudster wouldn't get through many before they found them,selves having to explain why the amount was wrong.

Depending on the card issuers chip setting it would likely be lower than every 10/20 transactions.

gunsandbanjos

melanzana wrote: »

I've no problem with contactless.

Apart from the fact that I never know when to take the flippin card off the screen!

Must be old age.

There is usually lights at the top of the machine - the ones I've seen have 4, you see them lighting up one by one, once they're all lit you can take your card off.

glider3560

pvt wrote: »

I stand to be corrected, but I understood that retailers are only allowed to use contactless payment if the card device is directly connected to the PoS terminal.

So to commit fraud in the way people have described the assistant would have to enter additional transactions on the till - and if they did that they wouldn't be able to pocket the dosh, or the EoD balance will come up short.

Not in any of the small businesses round here. The Chinese takeaway doesn't even have a PoS terminal - just slips of paper to record orders. The card terminal is a standalone handheld bluetooth device, as is the case in all the local independent pubs too.

chris_m

Only place I've used contactless is paying on the M6 Toll - can't say that I've noticed any lights or screen display there, the barrier lifting out of the way is a good enough clue that the transaction's complete

SuperHan

As a huge contactless fan, I was super interested to read this thread. After hearing a lot of worry and grumbling about contactless on here, I've still not come across an example of actual fraud.

And I still haven't... I do think more people are griping over this than is necessary - there's still a lot more examples of 'old-fashioned' CC fraud than contactless fraud.

*wait for the links of actual fraud cases to be posted*