Lateral thinking or lunacy?

[Samray]

Banks are planning to issue their customers with handheld credit card readers.

http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/ ... fraud.html

[Gio]

I like the online purchase option I have.

Whenever I buy goods online, a separate page opens up that's a direct link to the cc supplier, I have to enter a password and answer 3 security questions before they'll approve payment.

[Rickyrock]

I've got a better solution - no credit cards just use cash or someone elses card

[Kwackerz]

I stopped to refuel at a Shell Garage one night. I had the family in the car with me.
The Garage owner didnt know me from Adam. After fully fuelling the car I went in to pay. I put my card in the machine and typed in the pin... to my other card.... twice... then a third time. I'd not done it deliberately and didnt realise my mistake. I was sure that was my pin number... I even commented on it to the guy.

So anyways, card locks out. I stand there miffed. miffed and uneasy to be honest.. I no doubt looked it too.

'Dont worry.. I'll just print it for you.' So he did. manually doing the business and making the transaction go thru.

I walked back to the car rather confused. Here was I using the wrong number for a credit card, yet no one batted an eyelid. The guy didnt even check my signature against the card, despite the fact I'd acted in a highly suspicious manner at a late hour.

Ive never heard from Visa about it. I phoned them and enquired whether there was any suspicious activity on my card. They flatly replied they saw nothing untoward and why?

So there you have it. if you lose your banking identity, you're basically fekked.

If these things fail, why do lights not flash, telephone calls have to be made to confirm the card carrier? it's all shady and scarily easy to use in an untoward manner.

Over the phone is even easier, you dont need to even have the card to hand, just the details!

I can see the card reader being useful and adding to security, but will it really make that much difference? I doubt it.
Phone the vendor 'Err yeah I messed up my pin number, i really need the goods, can you manually carry out the transaction mate?' I guarantee they will. Pass up a sale? naah. I may even give it a try if i get the chance. I bet i can still purchase goods from an internet supplier if I mess my pin number up when entering it..

[Goldie]

Ive never heard from Visa about it.

No reason why you should. As I understand it, since the introduction of chip and pin, the vendor (not the cc company) is liable for any losses due to unverified (i.e. non-PIN verified) transactions. So if the garage owner is prepared to accept your signature then it is his risk. Visa won't know about the transaction 'til he claims the money and won't regard it as unusual unless it is for a "high" value. Even then I suspect they will wait for you to complain when you get the bill.

I haven't figured out what makes a transaction trigger the alarms. Prior to chip & pin the vendor would sometimes call the cc company for an authorisation code; sometimes this would result in a series of security questions, sometimes it wouldn't. Now it seems they rely entirely on the PIN. I bought a car a couple of months ago; £6k on the Visa card... no security call and no call later from Visa to query it (which I have had for fairly innocuous looking internet purchases).

I think the system their using is called "random bollocks".

[Kwackerz]

Ive never heard from Visa about it.

No reason why you should.

I think the system their using is called "random bollocks".

Hmm 99.9% of any purchases with any of my cards is via the internet. to suddenly use it away from my home, failing to insert the pin should set alarm bells ringing? Like you said about the internet purchases triggering alarms, they used to with mine til I informed them that I only use the cards for internet transactions. They've not bothered me since, but surely should switch fire the other way, questioning anything non-internet?

It is all a lottery with the card companies.

[Samray]

Once they have queried one internet transaction, no matter how insignificant, they seem to allow anything through, no matter how large.