Went to McDonald's the other day to pick up a couple of burgers for dinner and noticed this credit card machine on the counter. Notice how the keypad is recessed and there is a soft rubber lip around the edges, presumably to keep prying eyes from seeing what buttons your fat little fingers are pressing.
Makes me wonder. I am sure there are people out there who are making a living by scamming other peoples credit and debit cards. But I wonder how much damage they cause as opposed to the bank's policy of sending out cards to anyone they can think of. And how much damage do the scammers get away with because people can't be bothered to balance their account every month? Compared to the amount the credit card companies rake in, I'll bet it's a nit, like one-tenth of one per cent. Nothing compared to what the big fraudsters make off with. Why do we even bother?
You will be amazed to learn how big the fraud problem is these days. Although it is true that most of the problem resides outside the payment terminal and/or pinpad (e.g. in unencripted credit card databases some merchant still keep), leaving the PIN entry device unprotected will contribute to increase the loses, which will eventually passed over to the cardholder in the form of higher interest rates or fees.
ReplyDeleteJust to have a better picture of the magnitude of the issue, google "POS skimmers"... Search results will talk by themselves...