Contactless debit cards

[NiceCupOfTea]

Just had one through the post.

Should I be scared? Where can one use it? Sounds ripe for abuse...

[HOGEPH]

The water slide looks like fun.

[andy ted]

If you use the London Underground they play havoc with the Oyster card readers, bloody annoying if you keep your oyster card in your wallet!

[NiceCupOfTea]

andy ted said:

If you use the London Underground they play havoc with the Oyster card readers, bloody annoying if you keep your oyster card in your wallet!

Great.

[Jasandjules]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Just had one through the post.

Should I be scared? Where can one use it? Sounds ripe for abuse...

Presumably it still requires the PIN though, so no real diffence to any other card? It's not like they look at your card etc.... when you buy. The only thing is where can you use one?

[NiceCupOfTea]

According to the leaflet it will "sometimes" ask for your PIN for security If you have to hold the card "near" the reader, why not just swipe the damn thing, how much harder is it?

Tech for the sake of tech if you ask me.

Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Thursday 9th September 19:20

[steveo3002]

whats stopping people getting a reader thing that the shops have and walking about in a crowd charging these cards?

[soad]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Tech for the sake of tech if you ask me.

Sounds perfect for the lazy people or who are in a rush or pushed for time.
Something like that.

[Original Poster]

steveo3002 said:

whats stopping people getting a reader thing that the shops have and walking about in a crowd charging these cards?

Absolutely nothing, we're all buggered!

[mkopc167]

Jasandjules said:

NiceCupOfTea said:

Just had one through the post.

Should I be scared? Where can one use it? Sounds ripe for abuse...

Presumably it still requires the PIN though, so no real diffence to any other card? It's not like they look at your card etc.... when you buy. The only thing is where can you use one?

You just swipe it past a terminal as far as I know. There is no request for you to input your pin. It only works on low value purchases from memory.

[jains15]

Only used it once so far, in Cafe Nero. Wave the card near the chip and pin type thing (there's a white disc at the top), there's a beep, a green light goes on, and you've paid. quite good actually.

[Ungarsee]

Maximum of £10 transaction. Normally in places like coffee shops, mcdoodles etc. Helps speed things up so good idea in my eyes so no need to panic. If the fraudsters want your money there's plenty of other ways

[Sunglasses Ron]

I've never heard of these before, that is all.

[ymwoods]

Ungarsee said:

Maximum of £10 transaction. Normally in places like coffee shops, mcdoodles etc. Helps speed things up so good idea in my eyes so no need to panic. If the fraudsters want your money there's plenty of other ways

So once these get popular all I need to do is walk through a big crowd with a device rigged up that scans for them and then charges £9.99? Yes there are plenty of other ways...but as easy as taking a stroll in a busy shopping centre?

This may not work if only "authorised" merchant terminals are allowed to use this method, but even then, it will not be impossible to set up a scam like this to do it...just a tad harder.

Edited by ymwoods on Friday 10th September 03:33

[v15ben]

They have these as standard in many places out here in South Korea. They are easier and sometimes they ask for either pin or signature depending on your bank. They have them on buses too which makes getting on and off a damn sight quicker!

[Jonathan27]

They are quite secure. The most that can go missing is £9.99 and if its a credit card that is covered by the Consume Credit Act so no risk of loss, and if its debit your bank will probably underwrite any fraud loss.
Also no one could just 'walk through a crowd' with a device and charge everyone £9.99, as you would need to get within 10cm of each card and be authorized to by one of the large acquiring banks to have the device in the first place.

Use it with confidence, they speed things up and save us all time.

(only available in London at the moment)

[steve singh]

You have to hold the card VERY close to the terminal (almost touching) and for a few seconds for it to pick up. I don't think you'll see many fraudsters running around with a car battery attached to their back and a device in their hand.

PS It's also available outside of london - for example, eurocar parts

Edited by steve singh on Friday 10th September 12:08

[pugwash4x4]

Jonathan27 said:

and be authorized to by one of the large acquiring banks to have the device in the first place.
)

LIke the idea and the security bit doesn't phaze me for a £10 a time

but honestly, banks don't have a great reputation for securing new tech- chip and pin was supposed to be amazingly safe and it already isn't!

[Mr Will]

steve singh said:

You have to hold the card VERY close to the terminal (almost touching) and for a few seconds for it to pick up. I don't think you'll see many fraudsters running around with a car battery attached to their back and a device in their hand.

PS It's also available outside of london - for example, eurocar parts

The maximum range at which it can be read is completely down to the power of the reader, it's nothing to do with the chip. Ranges of over 30 feet are pretty easy to achieve, which would make setting up a reader in a busy station and grabbing the card details of everyone walking past perfectly do-able.

Whether you can do anything with those details once you have them is another matter...

[Mr.Jimbo]

Yeah, was gonna say, we used it to buy donuts from a krispy kreme once, but it wasn't London. Quite a handy thing, though I've never used it myself.

Edit: I should say; Mum used it, I've not personally used it. I did however consume aforementioned donuts.

Edited by Mr.Jimbo on Friday 10th September 12:33