Contactless card safety! very concerned

  • joannejoanne's Avatar
    I am very concerned about the safety of using contactless card. Although to many people, it has brought convenience but it is too easy which makes me scared. Anybody who could make a payment without my consent as long as they have my card. Don’t tell me it is ONLY maximum 30 pound per transaction (not daily). What if I lost my card and only found out few days later! I am strongly against the contactless card. Those who like the contactless card wish you are either very rich or you never loose your card or never have your card hacked when you are shopping. Please can I switch to a non-contactless card?
  • 8 Replies

  • ScottW's Avatar
    Employee
    Hi , thanks for your question and I'm sorry to read about your concerns. Even though our credit and current account cards are contactless, we still offer the same amount of protection from fraud as always. We monitor all the transaction requests we receive and if we notice anything suspicious, we'll automatically stop the card and try to get in touch with the account holder.



    If someone was to use your card fraudulently, we'd make sure to refund any unauthorised transactions and have the account back up and running normally with as little impact to you as possible.



    I'm afraid that we don't offer non-contactless cards at the moment, but we'll make sure to pass on your comments regarding this, as we're always looking to improve our servcies.
  • joannejoanne's Avatar
    Hi Scott, thanks for the reply. I understand the bank may refund any unauthorised payments. However I think and please correct me if I am wrong this refund will be based (1)Sufficient evidence which can prove somebody else used my card illegally (2) Investigations which confirm the claim was correct. I am afraid all these processes are likely very lengthy or complicated (i.e I lost my card at town centre, somebody found it and used it to pay items at the same town). Finally even i got refund but the effort spent could be so great then the money itself. Whoever invented the contactless cards purely want to make money by increasing the quantities of transactions so either Visa or MasterCard make more money but put the consumers great risks and cause banks more troubles on investigating the fraud. I hope the consumers could have options to choose between a contactless and non-contactless card.
  • AdamF's Avatar
    Employee
    The two points that you raise are correct, however once the card is reported as lost or stolen by the customer, the investigation would then be carried out by our Fraud team, and there's not much else our customer would have to do to follow this up. Although the scenario you've outlined is a possibility, we have our own processes and security measures for investigating fraudulent transactions and as such, if these transactions were fraudulent, I would be confident in our ability to identify this.
  • joannejoanne's Avatar
    I never doubt the bank’s ability on this issue. The concern I have is that the contactless payment process does not have a security shield to protect the card owner and thus it has apparent security vulnerability. Even if I assume I can get paid for all the lost, I am afraid the total effort spent on reporting and investigation could very likely be much greater then the money itself. Thank you. (PS, it is not just for my tesco bank card, as contactless cards become a trend). Posting here is because you have this excellent community)
  • chaddman30's Avatar
    Supervisor
    Hi , I'd also like to mention the fact that many contactless transactions are authorised online now meaning any cards that have been reported lost/stolen and used fraudulently will be flagged up by the relevant systems.
  • joannejoanne's Avatar
    The online authorisation is one of many solutions which could at least add another safety shield. However I prefer to instant messaging or notifications so I know immediately if my money was taken by criminals. Also when you say ^many^? Which banks are you referring to? I got cards from several major banks and I am aware none of this. wrote:
    Hi , I'd also like to mention the fact that many contactless transactions are authorised online now meaning any cards that have been reported lost/stolen and used fraudulently will be flagged up by the relevant systems. wrote:
    Hi , I'd also like to mention the fact that many contactless transactions are authorised online now meaning any cards that have been reported lost/stolen and used fraudulently will be flagged up by the relevant systems.
  • ajw23's Avatar
    Unfortunately Tesco Bank is pretty much the only provider who do not offer non-contactless cards. I beleive the only other you can't opt out of is a Barclaycard Credit Card. I know what you mean. I'd much rather not have it on my card (luckily my Tesco Bank CA is not my main CA but I still carry it regardless). It's actually easier to remotely swipe your details when a Contactless payment is made than it is to physically skim a card now. New law is coming in which means you will only be allowed to make up to 5 Conactless payments in a row and the sixth time will require PIN.
  • Tarian's Avatar
    Eagle eye
    Joanne, You are right about the refund process - and "the effort spent". I dropped my Tesco CC outside a Tesco. Within 15 minutes it had been used - twice. It was lucky that I shopped in that Tesco - so that I discovered my card was mislaid/lost.This prompted me to check on-line when I got home.Otherwise the card's loss might have gone unnoticed and who knows how many sub-£30 purchases would have been made? IIRC, the three calls to Tesco took a total of about 25 mins - during an hour. How much time does a Contactless purchase save ? 2 to 3 seconds each time?That time "saving" is not worth it to me ..... and clearly not to some other customers. Also, (and personally I don't "get it") .... it seems that some people don't check their statements - so aren't sure whether a debit is their's - so never report it ! Contactless is demonstrably less safe than PIN.Customers should have a choice.