Just got a new Westpac Ignite Mastercard today (they bought out
Virgin). It's got a nice shiny smart card style chip in it. Supposedly
a "CHIP based card for increased fraud protection" or some such said
the blurb.
I didn't know there were any infrastructure/readers etc out there that
could take advantage of such a thing.
It's still got the magnetic strip as well of course.
Anyone got any idea how it works or what it's intended for?
Dave.
They are starting to roll out eftpos terminals with smart card readers
in au, there is a few places I visit on a regular basis that require
you to use the smart card. There is no real demand in AU as yet due
to the relativly low credit card fraud rates in AU compared to the
cost of rolling out smart card technology. The plan is to eliminate
mag stripe cards to enhance security, but as we all know the criminals
always catch up eventually. However, the harder you make it, the
longer it takes and the lest it costs the banks.
BTW. I have been a victim of CC fraud. I went around to all the stores
that had purchases on my card and most were big chains. However one
was Autobarn, which was a private franchise. The owner was really
pissed off because apparently all the banks do is reverse the charge
and refund it to the consumer. I got all my money back. Fortunately it
was my wifes card that got stolen, and she figured out who it was. It
was stolen from her work. I cancellled the cards as soon as she
noticed and contacted the police. Printed out all transactions from
internet banking and gave them all receipt copies I obtained from the
stores. The idiot who stole it decided to to fuel up a car at a
service station that had CCTV!! Justice. I doubt the owner of Autobarn
would have ever got his money back though, the woman was a drug
addict. None of this would have happened if PIN's were enforced.