True story: I was an American in the wastelands of Uzbekistan and needed to find a bank to get currency. Locals pointed us in the direction of a tiny cluster of buildings on the horizon. We got there and one of the buildings was indeed a tiny bank of some kind. We gave the person running the place our debit card and he looked at it with surprise. He flipped it over and over then gave it back. They didn't accept magnetic stripe cards-- only chip and pin. What backwater place did I come from that still issued magnetic stripe only cards?
A few months ago I went to use my high street bank's ATM and it had an unusual card aperture. The rest of the machine looked normal. I walked into the branch, explained my concern and the cashier looked at me for several long moments, as if I had made some amazing comment, then said their engineers had fitted it and it was fine to use. I got the impression that I was the first to ask about it, and that such questions are unusual.
I've got a question about the chip cards. I have one and I use it when possible. I often hear that the reason to use them is that they are harder and more expensive to copy than cards with just a magnetic strip. This seems like a pretty weak deterrent. If everyone starts using chips wouldn't the price of creating cloned cards with chips go down? Wouldn't it eventually become worthwhile to criminals? Or do the chips provide another layer of security that I'm unaware of?
I don't consider myself an authority on this, but that's one of the most convincing skimmers I've ever seen. Significant effort went into designing and manufacturing that.
a skimmer video from Vienna that's gone viral
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll4f0Wim4pM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll4f0Wim4pM</a>
Can the rise of skimmers be attributed to the fact that a chip card is more difficult to "hack" into and since more and more customers and vendors are requiring dipping chip cards the thieves want to get as many cards as possible before all vendors require chip and dip?
Here in Singapore I could get a replacement debit/atm card in an hour by visiting any open branch. Or credit card in 3-4 working days. Maybe it is because Singapore is such a small country.
I have to say though hearing the stories about consumer facing tech from the US credit cards, 911, cable boxes internet speeds vs the business tech you see where the US dominates. I feel the people are less important in the US then the corporations.