Credit card holders warned on PIN record dangers
Consumers are being warned against writing down the PIN numbers for their credit cards, after a Which? study suggested that as many as 7 million credit and debit card holders in the UK have left a written record.
While the study only highlighted 1 in 10 users as writing their PIN down, worryingly, more than a third had left had left this in their wallet with their credit card.
Another third left a record at home, while a further 10% left theirs in the office.
The dangers of doing so are highlighted by the steep rise in credit card fraud since the PIN system was introduced - ostensibly to try and streamline processing costs, and shift liability for fraud away from banks.
This is especially true where the PIN has been written down, or else where a bank can claim that any credit card fraud was the result of user negligence.
In such instances, the consumer would be liable for the costs of the fraud and would not be refunded.
The dangers of credit card fraud are especially pertinent considering that even the bosses of Britain’s banks have been subject to credit card fraud.
It was revealed at a recent RBS meeting that chairman Sir Philip Hampton had been affected by credit card fraud more than once.
Former HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby had his account frozen after a thief stole his details and withdrew thousands of pounds, and Barclays chairman Marcus Agius reportedly had £10,000 stolen from his bank account after a credit card was fraudulently obtained in his name.
Martyn Saville, Which? credit card expert, said: “The results show that too many consumers are putting their finances in jeopardy by not taking simple precautions.
“Writing down your Pin is like leaving your door open when you leave the house.”
The UK Cards Association recommends that PIN numbers should be changed at a cash machine if difficult to remember.
Additionally, security advisors recommend against using a date for a PIN number, as a recent audit suggested that a significant number of four-letter passwords, including PIN numbers, always started with 1 and 9 as their first two digits, meaning criminals only have to second guess the last two numbers.
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Is comes as no suprise that bank fraud is on the increase. I worked for a UK tax practice that had clients consisting of Lords, CEO’s (One of which was the CEO of one of britains biggest banks!)
Unbeknown to these clients all the processing work was sent to India for processing! It returned to the UK 5% of which were checked the remainder just sent to the client by the admin team.
Tax Returns require a whole host of information which could provide a would be fraudster with 99% of the information they require,National Insurance numbers, addresses, date of births, bank account numbers etc etc.
I think it should be a legal obligation that Accountancy/Tax practices whether affiliated or not should have to tell their clients if they use such methods as outsourcing.
Also should those using such a raft of personal information be CRB checked?