h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I misread what you said. You meant if you can remember lots of birthdays and phone numbers you should be able to remember lots of PINs?

>>Retailers can set up scams (or their employes can ) if you don't use Chip & Pin. This seems to be because even though YOUR receipt copy prints out the first 4 and last 4 numbers of your card only, the retailers copy has the FULL card number on it, so if you have signed the sales slip, THEY have your card number AND your signature - apparently this can be used to create a card bearing your name and a forged signature<<

The retailer's copy of the receipt doesn't have the full details on it I don't think, if it did I would have been able to do all sorts of naughties with people's cards when I worked at a cinema. I think the full details *are* stored on the central till computer though, so people who can access this can commit fraud

"I simply cannot remember more than half a dozen at any one time and have to either make them all the same or write them down - which defeats the object of the game anyway."

One suggestion I've seen is to write them down, but disguise them as a list of phone numbers. If you're the only one that knows that it's the 2nd/3rd/4th set of four digits out of a 7 digit phone number that is actually a PIN, then it should be fairly secure.


Azara

All my passwords and pins are related - as are my passwords for banks etc.

The ones that give me problems are my TACACS because I can't reset the pin bit of them.

The UK system is fully compatible with the French system - The French system is not compatible with the systems used in America. (If I remember correctly - I was once owned by the company that makes the French cards)

Internet banking - just don't.

>>You meant if you can remember lots of birthdays and phone numbers you should be able to remember lots of PINs?<< That's it, Kea - Mr. D boasted about the amount of pins he can remember, and asked if that made him the winner, so I said he'd have to remember the other dates, too, to claim his victory

There are some people who can't use chip & pin, or have difficulties, because of a disability such as poor sight. So I doubt they'll do away with the option of signature completely.

Poor sight's not a major problem if the keypads are designed properly - i.e.: a standard layout and a 'pip' on the N°5 key.

Some visually impaired people will cope, in fact better than having to sign, but not all. I can imagine some other disabilities being a problem too.

If someone can't see the keypad well enough to put in a PIN, surely they can't see what it says on the slip that they sign. That sounds like a recipe for trouble...

Azara

Years ago when they gave you a carbon copy, you could go to the waste bins, collect the reject carbon paper slips and it would have card number, signiture and expiry dates imprinted on the carbon. This was a common trick in Amaerica, I'm told. I used to ask for the carbons. Now I think the chip and pin seem better, but I'm told people can peer over your shoulder. I'd sooner chip and pin than sign bits of paper which could be discarded into waste bins and collected by some theif.

My big gripe is people standing far too close to me when I'm using a cash machine.
Don't they realise that it makes them look suspicious?
I took one guy to task recently - he completely failed to see the point.

One thing I've noticed about EPOS receipts is that while one retailer *'s out the middle numbers, others will * out different digits. This means that anyone finding a bunch of receipts can put the info together and get the whole number.
I shred all EPOS receipts and put the shreddings on the compost heap - for reasons of ecology, rather than total paranoia.

I shred almost everything. Bought a cross shredding machine. Anything with my name and address, bills and receipts. I started doing this when I saw the TV adverts about a man who adopts other peoples identities and spends their money. I don't think it's paranoia, I think it's security.

Just wondering if McKay is going to expand on his period of servitude to the company that makes the french cards

The usual scam for cards is that the till person will swipe it through a card reader and then through the till. This is why they say you should never let your card out of site, even when you hand it to the cashier (not all chip and pin insert into the keypad).

It's certainly more reassuring in restaurants whne thye bring a chip & pin machine to the table instead off whisking away your card out of sight.

There isn't really any expansion I can make - I was bought by an oil company, and another of their acquasitions made the French cards, if you look closely at the ID cards that MPs have been waving about, and telling us are a wonderful idea, you'll find the name of the company on them as well.

I didn't actually have anything to do with them, just read about them in the company bumphf.