Chip and PIN and banking double standards
I've thought for a long time that 'Chip and PIN' was a daft idea, so it's good to have my ideas vindicated by University of Cambridge security researcher Mike Bond. He's set up a detailed website showing you the read story on the new system, here:
Chip and SPIN
The national newspapers have begun to mark some issues too:
Drawing a picture of the online fraudster
Favourite quote from the above:
"Online card fraud has risen 70% since shops started using the new chip and pin technology." -- The Telegraph, 15th August '05
Chip and pin helps push bank and credit card fraud to 505m -- The Guardian, 8th March '05
UK Criminals Know The Chip Card's In The Mail -- Card Technology Magazine, 8th March '05
Shadow hanging over card users -- The Observer, 17th July '05
And finally some news from opinionated British tech news site 'The Register':
Chip and PIN fuels crime wave
Chip and PIN transfer liability away from banks and onto consumers and retailers
The last, while appearing to be a straight conspiracy theory, does rather smack of the classic banking double standards we expect in this country. As an example, my own bank (Halifax) has this rather odd reaction to a current account going overdrawn: Direct debits and Standing Orders will fail, and they will charge you a one off fee for that. Standing Orders destined to repay Halifax loans will NOT fail. They will be paid, and you will be charged twice, once for making a payment over your overdraft limit, and again for going over your overdraft limit. And you pay huge interest on the amount you have gone over. This is coupled with the fact the you cannot change the date on which the payment is made, despite that fact that mine comes out on the 23rd of each month (I get paid on the 27th). When I tried to change it, they claimed there was little point anyway, becauase a failure would just cause it to be taken a week later. This was true at the time but disappeared later. In the last couple of years I've not tried to change it again, just tried to keep myself away from that red line.
Another example is this:
A friend of mine applied for the maximum student interest free overdraft on his Lloyds TSB student account, and was refused by a LTSB manager because 'they don't want to encourage students to get into debt'. In the same breath, the bank manager then offered him a LTSB credit card. In other words, the don't want students in debt UNLESS they are paying big interest for it!
So there you go. The institutions we are trusting with our money are skating a fine line along the bounds of morality. The real reasons behind chip and PIN remain obscure. Just be very very careful what you do with your money. Use only ATMs in well lit, busy, but not crowded places. Cover your hand when typing your PIN. keep the minimum amount of cash in your current account, transfer money into savings accounts whenever possible. Watch your transactions like a hawk. And pay cash anywhere remotely dodgy (like any petrol station, corner shop, or indepentant store, or even chain stores with odd layouts).
Chip and SPIN
The national newspapers have begun to mark some issues too:
Drawing a picture of the online fraudster
Favourite quote from the above:
"Online card fraud has risen 70% since shops started using the new chip and pin technology." -- The Telegraph, 15th August '05
Chip and pin helps push bank and credit card fraud to 505m -- The Guardian, 8th March '05
UK Criminals Know The Chip Card's In The Mail -- Card Technology Magazine, 8th March '05
Shadow hanging over card users -- The Observer, 17th July '05
And finally some news from opinionated British tech news site 'The Register':
Chip and PIN fuels crime wave
Chip and PIN transfer liability away from banks and onto consumers and retailers
The last, while appearing to be a straight conspiracy theory, does rather smack of the classic banking double standards we expect in this country. As an example, my own bank (Halifax) has this rather odd reaction to a current account going overdrawn: Direct debits and Standing Orders will fail, and they will charge you a one off fee for that. Standing Orders destined to repay Halifax loans will NOT fail. They will be paid, and you will be charged twice, once for making a payment over your overdraft limit, and again for going over your overdraft limit. And you pay huge interest on the amount you have gone over. This is coupled with the fact the you cannot change the date on which the payment is made, despite that fact that mine comes out on the 23rd of each month (I get paid on the 27th). When I tried to change it, they claimed there was little point anyway, becauase a failure would just cause it to be taken a week later. This was true at the time but disappeared later. In the last couple of years I've not tried to change it again, just tried to keep myself away from that red line.
Another example is this:
A friend of mine applied for the maximum student interest free overdraft on his Lloyds TSB student account, and was refused by a LTSB manager because 'they don't want to encourage students to get into debt'. In the same breath, the bank manager then offered him a LTSB credit card. In other words, the don't want students in debt UNLESS they are paying big interest for it!
So there you go. The institutions we are trusting with our money are skating a fine line along the bounds of morality. The real reasons behind chip and PIN remain obscure. Just be very very careful what you do with your money. Use only ATMs in well lit, busy, but not crowded places. Cover your hand when typing your PIN. keep the minimum amount of cash in your current account, transfer money into savings accounts whenever possible. Watch your transactions like a hawk. And pay cash anywhere remotely dodgy (like any petrol station, corner shop, or indepentant store, or even chain stores with odd layouts).
