Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

I've just received my replacement Visa Credit/Debit card from my bank. I specifically asked that they did not send me a contactless card(which thankfully they haven't) as it scares the life out of me to think if I lost or had my card stolen and I did not know therefore did not report the loss/theft to my bank, that person doesn't even have to put a pin number in, all they have to do is swipe the card across the shop card machine and that would be money coming out of my account.
Apparently they could do this several times with someone else's credit/debit card with absolute abandonment, safe in the knowledge that no-one is going to ask for further I.D.
What a scary thought, and who would be responsible? how would you be able to prove that it wasn't you that bought that 40 cigarettes, paper and odds and sods?? and that is only one transaction. No thanks, not worth the risk.

What about you? do you think they are a good thing simply because they are so easy with just one swipe of the card? or do you think they are really risky?

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

SG I have never used the 'swipe' facility on my card (and I didn't request it in the first place) .
If there is any problem with dubious purchases on my card using the facility I will be able to query it saying I have never used it.

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

i recently read that they are susceptible to being read and copied during usage.

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

Crikey Nom, it's even worse than I thought then!

Meg, of course you would, as would we all, but it just makes me wonder why the banks would bring something onto the market where the risk to the person's bank account is so obvious.
What I would be interested in knowing is ...does the bank take your word that you lost/had your contactless card stolen and it certainly wasn't you buying whatever was bought with the swipe of the card, or is it up to you to prove that it wasn't you using your card before they reimburse you?

I guess because of the convenience of ease of payment, they must have deemed the high risk worth it. It's just unfortunate for the poor card holder.

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

No more than £30 per transaction, I believe, but they can be read through your clothing and wallet. I keep mine in a stainless steel wallet, apparently they cannot be read through that.

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

You have to take it out of the wallet to use it, that is when the scammers strike, when you are at the till.

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

We use contactless credit cards. I keep mine inside a small metal wallet because it's a convenient item to carry my cards in. It is also said to prevent cards being scanned either accidentally or on purpose. However, from what I read about the proximity needed to scan a card, I'm not sure this is a real danger.

Lots has been written about the safety of contactless cards and a quick search of the Internet brings up a number of articles. They mostly seem to say that they are reasonably safe. The number of contactless transactions that can be done over a period of time is limited. This means a thief could not go on a contactless spending spree before you discover the card has been either skimmed (unlikely), stolen or found by someone else and used. A PIN will be asked for after a few contactless transactions and the bank should reimburse any losses anyway.

More here:

https://www.visa.co.uk/products/visa-contactless/faqs (Visa)

http://www.tsb.co.uk/straightforward...5102011413717/ (TSB)

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

We have contactless cards, have used them on many occasions with no problems, very handy for small purchases, of course, my wife goes one better, she uses apple ipay on her phone

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

I don't 'think' they are risky, I 'know' they are

The fact is that huge amounts of fraud and crime are committed which never get into the statistics and never brought to the attention of the card users. I have had a little involvement with the credit card manufacturers and the people in the industry didn't impress me one bit

You only have to look at how easily some criminals can interfere with the machines, how they can swap cards, how they can forge cards. The whole processis is open to abuse but no one in the industry really cares.

Nowadays I only use my card when there is no alternative, I won't be going for 'contactless' cards and if paying cash is possible I'll do that, I don't care if it costs a tad more, to me that is price well worth paying for guaranteed protection.

Re: Contactless Credit Cards? Are they dangerous?

They will only reimburse any purchase price, they will not cover any of the worry, phone calls, letters, time wasted, etc. etc.

It is NOT acceptable (To me at least) that eventually after a lot of worry, phone calls, letters, not to mention time, the amount of the illegal purchase is refunded. That is NOT proper compensation, sadly there are so many muppets out there who just accept it.