Denis Opudo
Many South African Fintechs are embracing the use of technology at high speed. This is all meant to cope with the high technology revolution across the world. The South African banks are on the move of launching the tap and go technology mode of payments. This will act as a backup for contactless payment for a given period. Currently, the technology is in use at the point of sales in many popular businesses like Mcdonalds, Gautrain stations and Pick ‘n Pay.
However, consumers still have some concerns. This comes after many banks pledged to support the technology. According to Senzo Nsibande, the head of card fraud at FNB Credit Card, one of the concerns is that criminals can use the technology to steal money without using the pin since it is easier to copy cards using the technology. Besides, cards which back up contactless payments use the same security as normal chip transactions.
The contactless cards use many security options like high-end encryption technology. The feature makes it hard for one to reproduce card’s data. The card allows one to make smaller payments, but one has to enter card pins while high-value payments. There are specific retailers within their limits. The frequent request for card’s pin on any transactions whether small or large is to ensure security.
The pin makes it hard for criminals to enjoy using the card at any time. However, there are possibilities that someone close to you can get card’s information. Nevertheless, the information gotten is not enough to be used by non-other than the card owner. There is nowhere that the criminals have ever succeeded to enjoy the card. This is also attributed to the stronger chip cryptograms.
The only vulnerable places are countries without chip technology. Here the criminals copy the magnetic stripe then they use it in such countries. A good example is the United States where chip and pin technology is not fully functional. The contactless cards are less exposed since the card remains with the owner always. The criminals are not able to see the pin since the card is always with the customer. Moreover, criminals can only benefit from the card in case they steal it.
