Agreed, but with chip & pin the card is never out of your reach (though the merchant still seems to end up with the card number). Lost or stolen cards are easy to deal with, but misuse of your details while the card is safe in your pocket just leaves you suspecting everybody you've dealt with. And I hate coincidences. On mine too.
I worked for Barclaycard IT when they where putting this in, and was involved for a while with the project that trialed chip and pin in Northampton - there's no technical reason per se, but its more down to the fact that most people have difficulty remembering a 4 digit pin, let alone a longer one. You and I may be able to remember long strings of numbers, but apparently Joe Average Card User can't.
That's what I meant though - if they made it flexible then Joe Knobwand can still choose a 4 digit PIN, where as you or I can be nerdy and go for 8 digits
My bank once called me, to tell me they had received information that my card was compromised, that a new card had just been sent and I should destroy my existing card as it was now blocked. As far as I can tell no fradulent transactions had gone through on the card and they wouldn't tell me where it had been compromised. Was quite happy to see the bank being proactive though, even if I was without my credit card for 24 hours.
i had two thousand quid spent on one of my cards the a couple of years back... 1200 quid of it was on british airways flights, the rest was paying 02 phonebills. Left me confused as youd think both of those would be easily traceable to an id and thus easily bustable... Barclays were good about it and sorted it out immeadiately... I had a call from Natwest the same weekend saying that one of my other cards had been compormised too.
You'd think if people can remember phone numbers they'd be able to remember a longer pin to protect themselves. I lost my credit card in Hong Kong international airport and someone found it and handed it in without using it! I was shocked, and incredibly happy that someone could have been so honest. Australia is just getting into the chip and pin system here, so at work we've still got the swipe and sign thing going on. A lady came in to buy something yesterday and got insulted when I asked to see her ID because her signature panel had worn away. It was a platinum card, you'd think she would have been happy that I was taking the time to check
My Dad had his card cloned at a petrol station just before christmas - apparently they tried to spend about £4000 on the Curry's website with it... The bank sorted it out really quickly though - First Direct iirc.
I've only been stung when some ****ers broke into a US website I bought some DVDs from. Do I live in Sweden HSBC? DO I? NO. Ive used my CC in most of China and Taiwan and never once had a problem, but I always tell my bank before I go.
Panorama's basically a legitimised, TV-broadcast version of that 'Zeitgeist' internet film, right? [Panorama]: Look, a shocking, outrageous flaw/conspiracy! [World]: Where? *[Panorama] throws a shocking, outrageous flaw/conspiracy on the ground at [World]'s feet [Panorama] There! *[World] gasps
I use mine often be it in shops, online or abroad and noone could ever be bothered to commit any sort of fraud with it.
never had any money gone missing *touch wood* but my bank sends me a new card ever year to help "combat credit card fraud". Anyone see the episode of The Real Hustle where they stole cards from an ATM? Was amazingly simple. 1)Find 2 atms next to each other. 2) stick a little plastic holder into the card slot. 3) wait at the other ATM so joe bloggs has to use the tampered with ATM 4)joe bloggs puts in their card and types in their pin (while they watch).... and nothing happens, card doesnt come out etc. 5)joe bloggs walks off, the plastic holder is removed from the ATM with the card stuck inside and tada!!! the card and pin are yours When i watched it i wasn't that willing to believe it, but a couple of weeks ago i actually saw someone try it!
I had a debit card cloned, the only time i ever used it was to pay my credit card bill. I pay it in cash now.
Petrol stations are quite commonly places where creit card info is stolen. Camera over your shoulder to catch your pin, additional swipe through a card reader, quick shufti at the CVV and you're buggered. There was also an episode of The Real Hustle where they put a fake ATM in a big box on the side of the road, with someone crouching inside logging details as people tried to use the machine. And the box didn't really look that convincing either. On the very few occasions when I need cash, I'll try to find an ATM at a bank; I don't trust the machines in shops or pavements, tbh. Thankfully it's never happened to me, *performs superstitious manoeuvre*
possible? yes, but joe bloggs is a complete retard if he moves away without calling the emergency number to block the card...
Had my Halifax debit card stolen a while back somehow and the person who obtained it managed to spend £50 at a nearby Tescos on it! Fortunately Halifax re-imbursed me the money but goodness knows how the guy managed to use it without my PIN.
A variable-length PIN would be interesting but I imagine it'd cost a fortune to implement and update the existing systems. Besides, all the PIN number is there to do is stop Joe Bloggs finding your card on the street and using it straight away. 10,000 possible combinations with only 3 guesses available is more than adequate. Besides, security shouldn't be an inconvenience - if it is, people will get round it by writing the number down, thus making 8 numbers less secure than 4. I realize remembering 8 numbers may not be a problem for some, but for many, it would just be a pain. I lose my phone and all my cards every month or so, so trying to remember a new phone number and card number every time is enough of a pain, already.
My dad's managed to get done recently, which was really odd. he get cash out of machines, almost always from a bank, and never uses the card to buy stuff. Yet someone still managed to get his details. Natwest picked it up extremely quickly though - one random amount for an Orange top up (like £5.64 or something) and a iTunes purchase tripped something on a computer somewhere and they call straight away. A few years ago now, they also picked up my mum when she bought 4 TVs from Tesco's for the school she worked at. Apparently that looked suspicious. I can't think why though
Yeah, precisely. A numerical password solution is far from optimal. Something like a fingerprint would be good. There's the issue of a mugger dragging you to the ATM and placing your finger on the reader, but frankly, if you're getting mugged and you're at the stage that your attacker is able to drag you to a cash machine without you escaping, I think you'd be giving away the PIN anyway.
