Credit cards

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by SG-N, Jun 16, 2003.

  1. SG-N Registered Senior Member

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    Have your credit cards any chips? Here in France all our card are made with it (and use it of course). I saw that US cards didn't have any chip! What a security hole! Here, we never sign any transaction : we just enter our 4-digit code on a numpad.

    So, why do your countries still use un-secured cards?
     
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  3. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    dunno...I have a finnish visa electron...but i just sign...no pin...

    I have a dutch mastercard...just sign....

    In holland you could pay anywhere with any bankcard, with your pin code...that was convenient...

    I now use my visa electron here in finland in a similar manner, but it bugs me that I just have to sign a receipt every time, instead of using my pin. I try to make my signature ludicrous, but the people that sell stuff don't seem to mind. Anyone could therefore use my visa electron here if they found/stole it...

    let's bring on the chips..
     
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  5. palosheights Registered Senior Member

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    just read an article here in the u.s. in forbes magazine about credit cards companies mostly visa/mastercard are being sued by many companies but mostly walmart due to the fact that if you use a debit card with a visa/mastercard logo on it and you have to sign for the transaction then mastercard/visa get a 2 percent transaction fee and walmart says that cuts into their project and if you use a pin the transaction fee is only 0.50 percent.

    andy
     
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  7. weebee Registered Senior Member

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    Not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I knew a guy who worked for a bank in A’dam who told me that the reason they use the pin method and will not accept Visa (in A’dam) is because of the forgery. I guess the logic is that its hard to guess a four number code, but easy to fake a signature which is on the back of the card. Instead of the emphases being on the bank and shop to check that you are the right person by your signature, its on you not to let people see you type in your code. Also the reason that they never check your signature, or seem to, is because they have a camera on the till which can pick you up and its checked by a security team (if they are not asleep on the job)
     
  8. guthrie paradox generator Registered Senior Member

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    Hey, lokos like the cheese eating surrender monkey commies are ahead of the curve here! (Only joking)

    here in the UK, we have no chipped cards. Actually, the pin number on keypad system is under consideration, but the nearest equivalent is the introduction of it for collecting benefits at the post office. My bank card has a photo of me on it, a very useful secutiry feature i think with a proven record of fraud reduction, but only my bank actually uses them, most of the others dont, which is just bloody stupid to my mind.
    Some sort of fingerprint ID would be even better. Or iris.
     
  9. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

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    I got a credit card in my head. Basically, I walk into a store, put things into my trenchcoat, then walk out. See, I am special; the people in stores know I got a credit card on me and they use electromagnetic fields to get the information from the card placed in my head... I have to have a chip in there to make it all work.
     
  10. Jerrek Registered Senior Member

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    1,548
    Are you sure you're talking credit cards? We have debit cards that require a four digit pin for a transaction. Credit cards don't require pins. For example, you can use credit cards online by just typing in the number, expiry date, and name on the card. Some debit cards can be used as credit cards, and some credit cards can be used as debit cards (ie requiring a pin).
     
  11. SG-N Registered Senior Member

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    Sorry, may I should say what I called a credit card...
    A credit card is what you seems to call a debit card : a card used to pay everything and to take money in every bank. A debit card as we call it, is only used to take money in your own bank (not used so much).
    The credit card you were dealing with also exist in France and don't have any chip, but that's not what I was talking about. These cards are crap for me... and you can't use it in a shop (but if this card was "given" by that shop).
     
  12. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

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    as far as I can think about, I prefer using Debit ard A LOT to Credit Card, because by using Debit Card for every transaction I am sure that I am only using my own money.
     
  13. SG-N Registered Senior Member

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    With our credit cards, we are not allowed to pay if we don't have money on our account... That's a "false friend" name because there's no real credit with it!
     
  14. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

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    I thought that the 'cash' for credit card is allocated in another account?
     
  15. Nasor Valued Senior Member

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    In the United States, a credit card is used to instantly borrow money to pay for things. If you make a purchase with a credit card the credit card company will pay for your purchase at the time of sale, then you pay the credit card company back later (with interest).

    A debit card is used to electronically transfer funds from your bank account to the account of the store where you're buying things. It's sometimes called a 'check card,' since it works like an electronic check. A PIN is usually required to use a debit card, but not a credit card.
     
  16. Deadwood Registered Senior Member

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    386
    I was doing some shopping on the internet and I put my credit card into the credit card holder in my computer. However, the button I thought would release it isn't working. Now I don't know how to get it back out.

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  17. Nasor Valued Senior Member

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    A friend of mine recently returned from an extended stay in Europe. She described a 'chipped' type of card that people use for small purchases like buying things from vending machines. Apparently people somehow transfer money onto the card from their bank account. The way she described it, it sounded as if the card doesn’t merely provide access information to an account from which the money can be withdrawn (as is the case in the United States) but instead actually somehow contains the money on the chip; as if the chip 'knows' how much money it's supposed to have and erases money from its self when money is spent.

    Is this accurate? If so, what's to stop people from spoofing the cards?
     
  18. SG-N Registered Senior Member

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    Yes it is true... The amout of money on the card is limited, and you don't need any PIN to use that card. In fact it's not more than "electronic money"... Just don't lose it when it's full (I don't think that you can put more than 60€ on it anyway).

    About spoofing, it's not yet possible because of the strong crypto tools used by the chip. However : "Never say never". (Hackers just had to work about 10 years to begin to break the debit card chips - and it was the old generation...).
     
  19. Nasor Valued Senior Member

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    Very interesting. It seems almost inconceivable that the codes necessary to operate the card could be that closely guarded, especially since I assume people can put money on the card at any bank. Do you know what kind of cryptography the cards use?
     
  20. SG-N Registered Senior Member

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    1,051
    Not yet, but I will look for it...
     
  21. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    cool , I didn't know of this. like in cyberpunk stories

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  22. catman Registered Member

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    do you know where i can buy online banking codes
     
  23. catman Registered Member

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    do you know where to get online banking codes

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