Originally Posted by Channel 4 News

Millions more British bank customers have been exposed to fraud through the latest credit and debit card technology, writes Channel 4 News technology producer Geoff White.

Millions more British bank customers have been exposed to fraud through the latest credit and debit card technology.

On Friday Channel 4 News reported that Barclays Visa contactless cards (ones which bear the symbol pictured) can be read using an off-the-shelf mobile phone running a special app.

ViaForensics, the company which carried out the research for Channel 4 News, has now shown the same technique works on a Visa debit card issued by Lloyds. And banking industry insiders have told us that all Visa contactless cards can potentially be read in this way.

The app reads the full name, number and expiry date from the card. Channel 4 News was able to use just these three details to order goods through Amazon; setting up an account under a dummy email address and having the goods shipped to an address which does not match that of the cardholder.

There are around 19 million contactless cards in circulation in the UK - Barclays accounts for around 13 million of those.

Visa, which provides credit facilities for Barclays, Lloyds and other banks, said it takes cardholder security very seriously. It acknowledges that the details are transmitted by the cards without encryption, but said these details can be gained "by a number of methods" and should not be usable without the three-digit CVV number on the back of the card.

(snip)

Originally Posted by Matt D (Post 35406913)

I'm surprised there's been no thread about this.

Fraud fears grow over contactless bank card technology



... unfortunately Amazon and some other online retailers don't use the three-digit CVV number... :rolleyes:


This reminds me of all the talk a while back about being able to remotely read someone's RFID-chipped passport using a laptop and special scanner.

Originally Posted by Hom3r (Post 35406931)

Correct me if im wrong, but this contactless method (I have a Barclaycard with this) is limited to small amounts of around £10/20, and still require a pin ?

Originally Posted by Hom3r (Post 35406931)

Correct me if im wrong, but this contactless method (I have a Barclaycard with this) is limited to small amounts of around £10/20, and still require a pin ?

Originally Posted by Matt D (Post 35406938)

The issue with this is that the cards transmit the cardholder's name, the card number, and the expiry date... all unencrypted.

If someone obtains that information, they can then use the card details to make purchases online (at sites like Amazon, which don't use the CVV number), without any of the "small transaction restrictions" that are in place when physically using the contactless card in a shop.


EDIT:

The original C4 News story - http://www.channel4.com/news/million...posed-to-fraud

Originally Posted by Maggy J (Post 35406943)

The answer is simple, keep youur card inside a shielded wallet .What's on offer seems expensive though.Cheapest seems to be about £40:(



I wish I still had my metal business card wallet, it would have been perfect.However I see there are some as low as a tenner.:)

Originally Posted by gazzae (Post 35406942)

Would they not also require your address? Is there not a check to make sure the Invoce address matches?

Originally Posted by Maggy J (Post 35406943)

The answer is simple, keep youur card inside a shielded wallet .What's on offer seems expensive though.Cheapest seems to be about £40:(

Originally Posted by danielf (Post 35406958)

Erm, and what if you actually want to use the card for its intended purpose?