OT: Contactless card fraud?

The bus pass is in an outside compartment with all the other oddball ones and is at the top/bottom, so only nylon covering it. I don't even need a hinge-out windo as it works well where it is. There are about half a dozen items that I use on most trips, so easier to have a wallet with me. Also has the benefit of can't use the bus if I forget the wallet - useful at times!

Brian Gaff pretended :

I have never had a problem, ever, with any cards since they were first introduced. My contactless ones were sent out as replacements without me needing to request them.

The only issue I have found with them, is remembering the now rarely used pin, when I do need to use the pin.

Paranoia >> this way:-)

Another opportunity for anyone with powers of access to remotely track an individual.

Can you still change a PIN easily? Assuming you have the old one, of course.

In over 20 years of commuting into London I (i) never had my pocket picked & (ii) never heard of anyone having their pocket picked. So calm down.

It has nothing to do with drug dealing and everything to do with taxation.

Not entirely true.

There are none such.

Spot on.

BTW, the reason that transaction limit for contactless cards was raised was severe pressure from customers to do so.

Likewise, but make that 45 years. Although to be fair, I didn't use PT for every single journey.

Street crime is one of those things that is seen as a much bigger risk than it actually is. You are far more likely to be burgled.

But presumably you could stop that automatic top-up if the card got lost or stolen?

Of course.

That's the problem - you weren't given a choice.

The first contactless card I received was sent well before the usual renewal date on some pretext that there was some security problem with my card which meant that they needed to replace it. Needless to say, they couldn't tell me what the nature of the security problem was! So I didn't use the card.

Several years later, they saw the light of day and started offering a non-contactless option. I'm now using their card again.

Despite being told that the notion of phantom purchases was largely an urban myth?

You're far more likely to have your credit card scammed in another way.

I've had two attempts for mine trying to be used in a country I've never visited. Bank contacted me as they suspected they were fraud. And issued me a new card right away.

Surely that applies to *any* card - contactless or not.

Yes - provided you know the existing one. Otherwise you have to request a new one, which sent by post and takes a few days.

I've seen no evidence that HMRC is pushing the use of contactless cards. It's purely the card companies for their own nefarious reasons.

Presumably, though, the pressure came from customers who wanted contactless cards, not from those who didn't.

Quite.