Timber Floor Au

Following on in a similar vein to Martin's post..

EFTPOS ?

For those that dont know what it is, its an electronic funds transfer card thingy, similar to switch, with credit savings or cheque options ( never knew what cheque was for ) but anyway....

When you pay for goods, you swipe your card, and enter a 4 digit code. Anyone standing behind you can see, generally, unless your a bloody covert james bond type... your code, as you type it in..

Really, fgs , what is stopping someone from watching you enter your code, and then stealing your card...

Baffles me

MartinLuther

Nothing. But as your card is limited to $1000 a day and as a typical weekly shop costs $999, they'd only be able to get another $1 before you've cancelled your card.

While we're on the subject. On my recent trip to the UK I noticed that the UK's chip and pin system is obviously running on steam powered computers. My coffee had gone cold by the time the transaction was processed

Red_V_Roger

Don't you agree that generally banking etc has less security than UK. I went to Westpac to get a bank cheque at the weekend for several tens of thousands of dollars. All they asked for was my EFTPOS card and for me to stick my PIN number in.

So I could have nicked the card after seeing the PIN and gone and got myself a bank cheque. I took my passport etc with me, but it was not asked for.

Another woman at a bank told me that they are bringing in 'chip' cards, but not to increase security in Oz, but because people are having problems using magnetic strip cards outside Oz.

Timber Floor Au

Thats pretty scarey huh !!!!

WOW sight n sound, Brisbane, wouldnt let us pay with a bankers cheque, for about 8k worth of goods, they wanted a personal cheque...

I never really got a coherant answer as to why.. but he mumbled that bank cheques are easily forged

MartinLuther

The thing is that the eftpos is no more or no less secure than the UK's efpos or chip and pin. People can still look over your shoulder, get the pin and nick your card. They could also force you to an ATM at knife or gun point and force you to take the money out.

As for the cheque. I presume it was crossed and would be traceable through the system. So no big security problem there. I'm not sure if you can get uncrossed counter cheques? Is it any less secure than the UK? In the UK I could get out counter cheques with only my bank card. They might ask to see another credit card for security. They never used to ask for driving licences because a lot of them didn't have pictures on.

Pollyana

I've had similar answers. "The cheque is from a rental agent so its probably dodgy" as they refused to let me deposit a cheque into The Bloke's bank account, even though it was made out to him, and going into his account
I've only had my credit card signature checked a couple of times - i have cards in maiden name and married name (easier than changing the old one!) and occasionally forget and sign the wrong name. No-one has ever queried it.

killamarsh

You need to learn to do your pin with your hand covering the pad. Plus, many of the eftpos thingies come out of the holder, I pull it out everytime.

moneypenny20

Maybe that's a Westpac thing. Any time I need a bank cheque or take a large wedge out at my Commonwealth I have to give them my driving licence. Hubby went to do one transaction and was very hacked off because they asked him all sorts of 'coded questions' and then explained that as it's normally me that does it, they needed to check he was who he said he was.

When I put my pin in the machines, I always cover up the pad with the other hand.

Timber Floor Au

TMI !

smee

EFTPOS
Electronic funds transfer point of sale.

Swerv-o

Yes, I got a bank cheque from HSBC a couple of weeks ago, and I had to show my Account card, and a form of photo ID, and answer some security questions.

S