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[Elite Pete]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/EDITORIAL/car_page_content/jeremy+clarkson+loses+500+pounds+in+online+scam.html

At least the money went to a good cause

[Markjay]

OK... but he is not wrong about the fact that each cheque we give-out contains these details.... Britain is a paradise for fraudsters.

[theolodian]

He should have set up a new account, now he'll have to change all of his payment details.  Idiot!

I guess it's a good thing that I haven't used a checkbook in about 4 years . . .  

[albitz]

i had my chip and pin card scammed at my local garage a month or so ago(along with hundreds of other people),there was a camera in the ceiling to watch you put your pin in and a machine in the staffroom to copy the cards.so apparently i withdrew 300 quid from a cashpoint in montreal while i was at work in essex,so we need to be careful with them as well.

[Paul M]

i had my chip and pin card scammed at my local garage a month or so ago(along with hundreds of other people),there was a camera in the ceiling to watch you put your pin in and a machine in the staffroom to copy the cards.so apparently i withdrew 300 quid from a cashpoint in montreal while i was at work in essex,so we need to be careful with them as well.

You can't copy the card, at least not the chip part. I can only assume they copied the magnetic swipe and used the PIN with that. That is the inherent weakness -- chip and PIN is pretty secure, but as long as they still accept magnetic swipes as a fall back it's like living in Fort Knox but leaving a side door open in case you forget your ID

[theolodian]

i had my chip and pin card scammed at my local garage a month or so ago(along with hundreds of other people),there was a camera in the ceiling to watch you put your pin in and a machine in the staffroom to copy the cards.so apparently i withdrew 300 quid from a cashpoint in montreal while i was at work in essex,so we need to be careful with them as well.

You can't copy the card, at least not the chip part. I can only assume they copied the magnetic swipe and used the PIN with that. That is the inherent weakness -- chip and PIN is pretty secure, but as long as they still accept magnetic swipes as a fall back it's like living in Fort Knox but leaving a side door open in case you forget your ID

I've only run into one chip reader in the US, and I had to explain to the lady what it was asking her to do!

[Paul M]

i had my chip and pin card scammed at my local garage a month or so ago(along with hundreds of other people),there was a camera in the ceiling to watch you put your pin in and a machine in the staffroom to copy the cards.so apparently i withdrew 300 quid from a cashpoint in montreal while i was at work in essex,so we need to be careful with them as well.

You can't copy the card, at least not the chip part. I can only assume they copied the magnetic swipe and used the PIN with that. That is the inherent weakness -- chip and PIN is pretty secure, but as long as they still accept magnetic swipes as a fall back it's like living in Fort Knox but leaving a side door open in case you forget your ID

I've only run into one chip reader in the US, and I had to explain to the lady what it was asking her to do!

Yeah the US is a joke, for small transactions they don't even ask for a signature, and for bigger ones they almost never look at it anyway. Fraudster's dream over there, you could use a stolen card all day until it gets blocked by the issuer.

[theolodian]

Never got cloned over there, have been cloned here once though.  At least you get free fraud protection on credit cards over there, here Barclays wants you to buy insurance.  

[Jimbob]

I laughed so hard when I read this  

[mark.adams]

The bigger inherent weakness in the UK at the moment that a lot of people aren't aware of is the smartchip fallback. If the chip reader fails to read your smart chip, it falls back to the mag stripe, so in the event of mechanical failure, you're no better off than you used to be before chip and pin was introduced.

[Kevin Wood]

I must admit there are times when I wonder if it would be a good idea to put my cards through a bulk eraser and ditch the magnetic strip completely

Kevin

[Paul M]

The bigger inherent weakness in the UK at the moment that a lot of people aren't aware of is the smartchip fallback. If the chip reader fails to read your smart chip, it falls back to the mag stripe, so in the event of mechanical failure, you're no better off than you used to be before chip and pin was introduced.

Yes, and this is a well known loophole. Simply apply a brief over voltage to the chip, discretely frying it, then look surprised when fraudulently using it to pay for something... oh well just have to use the mag stripe and sign instead

There is the inevitable transition period when a "new" technology appears, but it's going to be many years, possibly even decades, before the mag stripe disappears. Due to the international nature of credit cards, as long as there are countries still issuing mag stripe only cards, the vendors will accept them until they expire.

[Paul M]

I must admit there are times when I wonder if it would be a good idea to put my cards through a bulk eraser and ditch the magnetic strip completely

Kevin

I have thought exactly the same thing, but my concern is what happens when I go abroad and they don't have chip reading capability. Or for my debit card, I suspect the ATM still reads the mag stripe

[Paul M]

Never got cloned over there, have been cloned here once though.  At least you get free fraud protection on credit cards over there, here Barclays wants you to buy insurance.  

I had one of my cards cloned once, no idea how it happened though. I first got suspicious when I noticed a transaction from Germany in euro, and I hadn't been there for 6 months or so. At first I suspected I may have ordered something for the car on the net and forgotten about it, but I called up anyway and asked them to investigate. A few days later another transaction appeared with Air Berlin, so immediately I called again and told them to cancel the card.

They sent out a form for me to fill in, basically to detail the fraudulent transactions and declare that they had nothing to do with me and I hadn't given the card to anyone or misplaced it etc. The money was refunded to my account before the balance came out of my bank account at the end of the month, so no big deal really.

[theolodian]

There is the inevitable transition period when a "new" technology appears, but it's going to be many years, possibly even decades, before the mag stripe disappears. Due to the international nature of credit cards, as long as there are countries still issuing mag stripe only cards, the vendors will accept them until they expire.

Chip and pin has been out for 15 years or so, and still not out in the states.  :-?

You do have to have photo ID in the states, unless you buy online.  However, that brings up another weakness of chip and pin.