General Chat

Haven't yet needed to use chip and pin but know that I won't have a choice with a debit card, for much longer.I've alot of concerns though. Was the old system, when I had a photo on the back of my card, not good enough? I found it useful too as at the time I didn't have a passport or driving licence to identify me.

nudge me for another day please

I work in a supermarket and it is a lot harder for fraud with the new chip and pin than it is with signature. I'm not saying that it won't stamp out fraud completely but it will at least reduce it. It is very difficult in a supermarket for someone to see what you have put in the chip and pin machines. It is also more secure than you drawing out money from a cashpoint machine because it is hard for you to stop people seeing what it is that you have typed. Nicola xx

We might downcry Chip & Pin, but signatures weren't that safe either, many a time the assistant hasn't bothered to look see if it matched. Perhaps we should have fingerprint or iris recognition instead? Val

I paid by chip and pin this morning at a garden centre, my husband was in front of me and our daughter deliberately stood behind, where the next person would be but close. She was waiting to see if the cashier a) positioned the machine where she couldn't see it or b) asked her to move back, or c) she could see the numbers. The cashier wasn't bothered at all, in fact he for some reason swiped the card before putting it in the machine (having removed it from where I had put it into the pin No machine). And, although I shielded the machine with my hands she could see what the number was easily. so be warned. She also said another thing is, if you take your attention off the card someone could grab it, if the till is near the door and make a run for it, having seen the number. so a good idea is to programme the number for stopping your cards into your mobile so you could quickly stop them. Ann Glos

Hi Susan We opted to have our pensions paid into the bank instead of using a swipe card to get them at the post office. This was because our P.O. is so small that everyone can see what you are doing and there are some nasty characters who go in. Also we thought we could use our debit card and ask for money back at the supermarket Now we have been issued with chip and pin bank cards , which rather defeats the object I now go into the bank and draw money out Last week when I was in Index I was amazed to see that the machines were high up on the counters/tills and in full view of the rest of the customers Bren

I was in a supermarket this afternoon and when I got to the check-out a couple of lads pushed past me. It was as if they had not bought anything. Luckily for me she had not started putting my goods through the till. But you never know who is watching you put your number in the machine. Sue

Oh believe me I take every precaution when using my card! But last week I was at the supermarket till behind on old lady with visual problems. Her sight was so bad she couldn't write or sign a cheque and so was using her chip and pin card. But she was having difficulty with that too and even asked the checkout girl if she would enter the number for her if she told her what it was!!! People like her are easy prey for fraudsters. Angela

Be aware of what you are doing, and make sure you stand in front of the keypad, and use your other hand as a shield too.

I have been worried about this for some time. There are inadequate arrangements to protect privacy of those entering pin numbers at supermarket checkouts and I think we'll see a huge number of cases where people hang around to watch, then pick pockets and bags of those who've been shopping to get the cards. Whilst signatures are not foolproof at least a shop has half a chance of spotting a forged signature. If a thief knows the pinnumber of a card, he could get away with using it for hours before being picked up because shop assistants will have no role in looking at the cards any more. And I can just see banks saying "well you say that someone looked over your shoulder, but we think you must have written the number down and left it with your card and so we're not covering the loss". Angela

A leading security expert has warned that new chip and pin credit and debit cards could be open to fraud. Professor Ross Anderson from Cambridge University,says villians will be able to capture card and pin datato "make up" forged cards. But the banking industry has rejected his concerns,saying the system is extremely robust. More than three-quarters of card holders already hold one of the new chip and pin cards. The problem with these cards is when you go to a supermarket anybody could either be passing at the back of you or watching what numbers you put into the machine. Sue