Barclays rolls out contactless cash machines

My initial thought from the headline was that that didn't sound like a terribly good idea but you'll still need your PIN number so not as bonkers as I thought. The tie up with the mobile banking app is also interesting.

Like it.

Well, no. I had my house burgled a while back and my wallet was stolen. First thing they did was go to a 24 hour supermarket and push through as many transactions as they could, each of which was less than 30 quid so they could be contactless. Booze, mostly. But they could only manage a few because it looks a bit suspicious in a shop to be buying several sets of shopping, each under 30 quid, over and over again. If you can go to a cashpoint and just pull out 30 quid time after time (I think it trips after 10 transactions with no PIN), that's much easier for the robbers. I got the money back eventually, but pulling 300-ish quid out of my bank account would have been massive pain in the arse.

Is the literal couple of seconds it takes you to type your PIN in at a cashpoint really that much of an inconvenience? Given you're still going to have to do it anyway if you want more than 30 quid?

Jon, even with contactless tap using the card, you still have to enter the PIN, you don't just tap and get the money, so anyone nicking your card would still have to know the PIN to get at your cash.
It's basically a card skimming device circumvention.
It doesn't make your experience any better though. (8+(

Mark

Except that you can install a second NFC device in the area to read the card and still get the PIN through filming the keypad or using your own keypad overlay...

The one plus is that the card should generate a unique code each time...

Which isn't much worse than existing ways peoples card details can be swiped at a cash point already.
The combination of the PIN and mobile banking app option does genuinely seem more secure though as it could indeed operate with a single use code.

So basically it's just shortcutting putting your card in a slot and picking it up again? well, I suppose people do get careless and walk away without picking up their cash, but not the card, surely...

Actually, would it mean you could use Apple/Android pay to get money out of your bank account, assuming you have a debit card connected to those services? Useful if you forgot your wallet.



Very kind of you. One of those things...

It seems to me that every idea they come up with is geared towards making unauthorised use easier rather than harder.