Brian The Dog on 10/9/2009 at 23:01
One of the other reasons a credit card has a pin no. is so you can use it in a cash (ATM) machine. Although they charge you a very high interest rate for such a privelige...
Here in the UK, all the cards have moved to chip-and-pin, and so you have to enter your pin for all transactions paid for by card. The retailer can ignore the card company and simply accept signatures, but then they are held liable if fraud happens on that card, so most don't take the risk.
I only have a credit card for when I travel abroad, although the UK has now moved its debit card system to Maestro from Switch, to bring it in-line with the rest of Europe. Last time I was in the States it still didn't work though and I had to use Visa.
Jackablade on 10/9/2009 at 23:37
Quote Posted by AR Master
is it a new one? most credit cards just require a signature and a swipe and that's it, which makes them so great for being stolen
I think they're just recently introducing credit card pins in Canada. At least in Alberta they're pretty new. I just got a replacement card a few months ago and it has a pin.
That Miserable Thief on 13/9/2009 at 12:25
Quote Posted by CCCToad
Thats what makes the scam good, it plays off the "smart" customer assumption that the credit card company already knows the information.
I think the word you were looking for is "gullible" - when combined with the assumption that any call of this kind is legitimate. I would agree that the customer with common sense would assume that the bank already knows the info, but I'd assume those with common sense wouldn't be rattling off sensitive numbers to anyone WHO CALLED THEM.
The smart customer is skeptical about strange calls asking for personal information - even if the caller is claiming to be helpful - or claiming to need you to verify that you have your card "in your possession". Hell, I know the 16 digit number and security code of one of my CC's by memory (I have only 2). I'm sure there are others with this "supreme" memorization ability :rolleyes:, so why would a bank accept that someone has a card in their possession just because they know the numbers? They wouldn't, and they also wouldn't be asking for any personal information that they already know for "verification" purposes.
The Alchemist on 13/9/2009 at 15:01
Some merchants don't need pin's for debt cards, such as fast food joints. Now if a crook wants to go on a fast food binge on your card, well, he can't do that much damage.
