What Can Be Done About Security of Debit Cards?

JumpDrive writes "I have been the victim of (Visa) debit card theft. I do not know where they stole or got the number, but it was used one day on the other side of the country and the next day it was used in Europe until they cleaned out my account. I had been monitoring my account online and immediately went to the bank and filed a claim. I was told at that time it would be 3 to 5 weeks for them to investigate the claim before they could return my money. Recently I tried to make a purchase with a debit card and was told that they couldn't use the card since it wasn't a Visa or MasterCard check card; this led to a discussion of why I no longer have a Visa or MasterCard check card. Which then led to the question of 'What can be done about it?' Currently I have a separate account for debit usage for my personal safety. But I also think that those producing these check cards should be required to advertise the hazards of having one of these cards (not in small print and maybe required in advertisement of these cards, similar to what is required with pharmaceutical drugs on television) and/or that if a debit or check card is issued a separate account should be required for its use, and users informed of the issues of placing all of their money in the same account that their debit card has access to. What other precautionary measures should be required or taken?"

Comments

What can be done? Nothing.

[plover]

The short answer? The banks will do nothing for you today.

The long answer: Nobody will do anything for you tomorrow, either.

Why? Because Visa does two things, only one of which makes money. First, they are in charge of defining financial card security through the PCI council, and they own and operate the secure network VisaNet, which carries authorizations from retailers to banks. Guess which one makes them money?

If Visa were to design and offer a cryptographically secure solution, one based only on smart cards for the customers and Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) at the banks, then I could safely route my charge authorizations over the plain ol' Internet. I wouldn't need to use the charge-per-transaction VisaNet. Visa would stop making money.

So instead of offering a secure solution, Visa and the PCI council say, "Merchants must lock down their systems, protect this data, follow these 12 steps, acknowledge that you are powerless over alcohol (oh wait, wrong 12 steps), and if you don't, we'll loudly blame you for allowing someone to see our non-existent security."

Visa owns the protocols used between merchants and banks. They could strengthen the protocols. They could prescribe encryption. They could require the deployment of chipped banking cards. But they do not, and have not for many, many years, despite a pathetic track record of security.

If you want the banks to be safe with your money, you ironically have to take charge of your own security. If you switch to using the green paper stuff, your losses will be finitely limited to what you carry on your person. If you want a more achievable answer in today's plastic world, DO NOT CARRY DEBIT CARDS. Debit cards do not offer you protection against loss. Credit cards are limited by U.S. law to a maximum of $50 liability to the cardholder. Debit cards losses are usually covered by the bank, but they are under no legal obligation to do so. For ATM access, most banks will honor your request for an ATM-only card instead of accepting their default ATM/Debit card. Of course, the use of credit cards requires personal discipline to always pay the debt on time, but otherwise you would see little difference.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[RenQuanta]

Credit cards are limited by U.S. law to a maximum of $50 liability to the cardholder. Debit cards losses are usually covered by the bank, but they are under no legal obligation to do so.

(Emphasis mine).

Actually, I don't think the part about the lack of debit card consumer protections is factually accurate. Here's the blurb from The FTC's Facts for Consumers:

ATM or Debit Card Loss or Fraudulent Transfers (EFTA). Your liability under federal law for unauthorized use of your ATM or debit card depends on how quickly you report the loss. If you report an ATM or debit card missing before it's used without your permission, the EFTA says the card issuer cannot hold you responsible for any unauthorized transfers. If unauthorized use occurs before you report it, your liability under federal law depends on how quickly you report the loss.

For example, if you report the loss within two business days after you realize your card is missing, you will not be responsible for more than $50 for unauthorized use. However, if you don't report the loss within two business days after you discover the loss, you could lose up to $500 because of an unauthorized transfer. You also risk unlimited loss if you fail to report an unauthorized transfer within 60 days after your bank statement containing unauthorized use is mailed to you. That means you could lose all the money in your bank account and the unused portion of your line of credit established for overdrafts. However, for unauthorized transfers involving only your debit card number (not the loss of the card), you are liable only for transfers that occur after 60 days following the mailing of your bank statement containing the unauthorized use and before you report the loss.

If unauthorized transfers show up on your bank statement, report them to the card issuer as quickly as possible. Once you've reported the loss of your ATM or debit card, you cannot be held liable for additional unauthorized transfers that occur after that time.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[Kitkoan]

They could require the deployment of chipped banking cards.

And this is where most of the problem has been caused. The belief that if we put those RFID chips in our bank cards, they must become safer. The problem is, it's the chip that is the biggest security issue since its RFID it's 'always on' and more then willing to send it's information to whomever asks. The banks and credit card companies have invested millions, if not in the billions, of dollars into the technology and its a flop. A massive, expensive flop. And now they have 2 options. Fess up that it's a failed experiment and have very pissed off investors. Or, censor/intimidate anyone who wishes to publicly expose this as the failure it truly is.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[Gr8Apes]

Naah - no modding down. Everyone here should be smart enough to distrust debit cards immensely.

As for internet buys - use 1 time numbers. My main credit card has them available, although I'll admit it is a pain in the tukas to get to the screen that gives you one, and it's not exactly advertised. (read that as you have to know what you're looking for and what the specific verbage is on the menus, or you won't find it)

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[archmcd]

I work in bank security, and I just wanted to offer some clarification on your rant:

If you want a more achievable answer in today's plastic world, DO NOT CARRY DEBIT CARDS. Debit cards do not offer you protection against loss.

A debit card can be used in two ways. It can either be used with a PIN in what's commonly called a debit transaction (or at an ATM), or it can be used as a "credit" transaction and processed through the Visa or MasterCard network. There is little to no protection against loss for the former of these transaction types, except keeping your PIN secure. The "credit" style transaction, on the other hand, is protected by a zero liability guarantee (at least Visa cards... not sure about MasterCard). Yes, your bank account may get cleaned out (or depleted up to the daily spending limit of your debit card), and outstanding checks may bounce, and you may have a freeze on your account until it gets resolved. However, this zero liability guarantee means any transactions found to be fraudulent will be reimbursed by your bank. The bank then goes after the merchant that processed the transaction to recoup their own losses. If you have a good bank, they'll also refund your overdraft fees. Debit or ATM transactions, on the other hand, are not covered by the same guarantee, so having your card skimmed and PIN captured is far worse - UNLESS your bank offers a guarantee on these types of transactions as well.

See http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/debit/visa_check_cards_faq.html

Credit cards are limited by U.S. law to a maximum of $50 liability to the cardholder. Debit cards losses are usually covered by the bank, but they are under no legal obligation to do so.

Losses due to fraudulent transactions processed through the Visa network are actually covered by the merchant that accepted the transaction, not your bank. Your bank only covers "Debit"-style losses they agree to cover if they offer protection against Debit or ATM transactions, but that's not a standard program.

For ATM access, most banks will honor your request for an ATM-only card instead of accepting their default ATM/Debit card.

An ATM-only card means you will have to use ATMs more frequently, thereby potentially exposing yourself to skimmers, as well as use of your PIN in public. Since there's no zero-liability coverage with most banks for skimmed ATM transactions, you're putting your money at greater risk by doing this. Oh, and by the way, the skimmers have this one figured out too. You no longer have to worry about the shady looking person loitering near the ATM watching you enter your PIN. They install a tiny camera painted to match the fascia of the ATM, and they aim it at the keypad.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[Recovery1]

Great idea. But my bank doesn't offer me such a system.

In its place though I have a credit card issued from the bank. It is linked to only one account and I have to transfer money into it before I use it for any transactions so otherwise it is mostly empty. Try to withdraw any more then is in it, the transaction is automatically rejected. Seems to work for me so far with online transactions quite well.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[Skreems]

Not according to the FTC, as quoted in the very thread to which you're replying...

However, for unauthorized transfers involving only your debit card number (not the loss of the card), you are liable only for transfers that occur after 60 days following the mailing of your bank statement containing the unauthorized use and before you report the loss.

According to them you have up to 60 days to report from the time they mail you the statement containing the fraudulent withdrawal before you start losing your own money.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[statusbar]

One thing can be done:

http://www.my-spy.com/

A service which will notify you via email or text message whenever any transaction occurs on your accounts.

--jeffk++

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[Throtex]

In fact, not only is it a good answer, it's the only correct answer. Credit is better than cash is better than debit. Why? If you have a dispute with a merchant you paid in cash, you need to sort it out with them directly before you can get your money back. If you have a dispute with a merchant and you paid with credit, and you're in good standing with your credit card provider, then you can just have them fight it out for you and reimburse you immediately. No hassle, no worries.

I pay credit for everything I can. Absolutely everything. I have no shame whipping out a credit card for a $3 purchase if the merchant will accept it. Why should I care?

Oh, and of course, all of this requires the very simple discipline of paying off your bills every month, and thereby incurring no fees. As a bonus, you get points/miles/whatever. Sure, you're paying for it because the merchant builds the card fees into the price of whatever you're buying, but by and large paying cash won't get you a better rate these days.

Debit? Never use it. Unfortunately my ATM card HAS to also be a debit card, and there's no way to deactivate its debit usage. It's a shame. There is literally no point, whatsoever, to using a debit card. Unless, I suppose, you lack discipline, and well in that case you've got bigger problems.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[natehoy]

Yes, your bank account may get cleaned out (or depleted up to the daily spending limit of your debit card), and outstanding checks may bounce, and you may have a freeze on your account until it gets resolved. However, this zero liability guarantee means any transactions found to be fraudulent will be reimbursed by your bank. The bank then goes after the merchant that processed the transaction to recoup their own losses. If you have a good bank, they'll also refund your overdraft fees.

Meaning no offense, but why in the hell would this make me want a debit card?

Maybe the bank would give me back my fees and losses, but I've still bounced checks with God-knows-who and caused them all manner of hassle and had them incur fees and lost trust with them. If my bank account gets cleaned out the day before my IRS check hits, do you seriously think they'll just chuckle and say "oopsie, well, we'll clear it again". No. I'm going to spend hours on the phone with everyone I sent a check or made an automated payment to, trying to dig my way out of the hole that used to be my bank account.

I've had an account cleanout happen (account was cleaned out by lawyers suing my parents, and I stupidly left my mother's name on my bank account). My mortgage and car payment checks were in the outgoing mail the same day I received the "summons to trustee" notice, and all my money was gone. It worked out, but I had to take two days off work (lost vacation time) to make all the necessary phone calls, and I still had a black mark on my credit rating for several years afterward, even though none of the bounced checks were determined to be my fault. I worked for a bank service company at the time, and they routinely pulled credit ratings (since I handled account details on a lot of people). I had to spend a couple of hours explaining the whole situation at work, and it's possible I could have lost my job over it. Fortunately I didn't. Net result was an absolute nightmare, and my bank was actually pretty nice and helpful about the whole thing.

I also had my credit card number compromised once (Hannaford breach, and my card was actually used overseas). Visa called me, said that the card had been suspended but that any automated payments I had set up would work for another week to give me time to transition to the new card number, went through the outstanding charges over the phone to verify that they were all valid, apologized for the inconvenience, and I never even saw any of the fraudulent charges at all. I spent 15 minutes on the phone with them, 10 minutes entering the new card on my automated payments, and another 5 minutes cutting up the old card when the new one came in. Impact to my credit rating: none.

"Yes, the debit card can be almost as secure as the credit card if you use it as a credit card, and if your bank is really nice the resulting damage to your account and credit rating can be built back to almost new after a lot of effort!"

Thanks, I'll use a credit card. If it gets used fraudulently, the onus is on the credit card company to help me out, because my money is not gone. A credit card does not have access to my checking account. That's a very important distinction to me.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[natehoy]

No. I pay my credit card company with an ACH transaction. I log on to my credit union's web site and authorize transfer of the funds every month. No paper checks, and the only people who have access to that information are my credit union and my credit card company.

And the only account authorized for ACH and checks is one I keep a limited amount of funds in. So even if my checking account was compromised, they could only take what I had deposited in it to cover the bills outstanding against it at the moment.

Plus, even if I did pay them with a check, that's one transaction per month I am taking a risk with. I pay for nearly everything with my credit cards, so I am using them multiple times PER DAY with various and sundry vendors.

I'd rather have my bank account with my real money exposed for one transaction per month than many. And even that is a "front" account with little funds in it.

In other words, I use the technique most people here espouse to make debit cards more secure - keep only a small amount exposed to the card.. except I use that as a SECOND layer of defense, not a primary one.

Credit cards may not be absolutely secure, but in terms of their ability to drain my actual money from my actual accounts, they are as close as we're gonna get.

If someone uses my credit card for fraud, I may have an uncomfortable time with the one creditor (my credit card company), but my cash in my bank/credit union accounts cannot be compromised by that. That means that any other payments I might make are unaffected by the fraud, my checks clear, and all of the people I am honestly paying will get paid.

To me, debit cards represent the worst of all possible worlds. I am exposing my actual bank account in each transaction, I am not receiving any float on my funds, I am not receiving any cashback or awards for my purchases, and the vendor I am doing business with is still paying a transaction fee.

For someone disciplined enough to pay off a credit card every month, I have yet to hear of any benefit to using a debit card. There are lots of disadvantages, and not a single advantage I've ever heard of.

Re:What can be done? Nothing.

[djdanlib]

One thing to be aware of... If you're doing an in-store merchandise pickup, they will normally want to see your card when you pick it up - for verification of your identity, and their computer systems generally require them to swipe the card. The programmers of said system were lazy enough to make that the only verification method, and the salespeople can't change it. Not the best way to do it, but it will save you a lot of hassle if you DON'T use a one-time number for these particular online transactions.

Disclaimer: I used to work in a store. These one-time numbers caused us endless headaches and hassles because customers would get downright nasty when we simple and unempowered salespeople would have to jump through all these ridiculous hoops (return, refund, repurchase) to make our system handle them. This would take half an hour or so, while the customer did this to "save time"... so just use your actual card number for in-store pickups, or call the store to confirm merchandise availability, have them hold it for you, and buy it at the store.

tl;dr if you need to verify your identity as the purchaser at a later date, especially with physical evidence, don't use one-time numbers.

Does your bank not call your or text you ?

[parallel_prankster]

I have set up my acct such that if there is an access made more than a certain amount of money and/or out of my local area, they call me/text me to call them and verify the transaction. I am not a frequent traveller, so this works out for me. Look up if such a facility is available with your bank too. Another thing, see if they offer some sort of fraud protection mechanism. Some banks do that. That takes off some of the time-delay/processing worries too. If you choose to use your debit card and not credit card mostly, also, move your money from checking to some savings account and keep very little ( subjective) money in checking. That may help too.

What to do? Tell you're bank they're full of it

[oasisbob]

IAABG (I am a banking geek).

The rules for provisional credit on debit cards is very well established. They fall under Regulation E, section 205.11. The bank has ten days to get you a provisional refund, and can take up to 45 days in certain circumstances to complete their investigation and finalize the credit.

Make sure you get them a notice in writing! Once you do, they have ten days to credit you, and many banks will do it much faster. If the bank drags their feet, just tell them "I want provisional credit within the mandated timeline per Regualtion E".

Here's more on this topic:
http://www.bankersonline.com/technology/guru2008/gurus_tech022508c.html
http://usa.visa.com/personal/security/visa_security_program/zero_liability.html
http://finsolinc.com/Reg%20E%20EFTA%20Error%20Resolution%20Flowchart.pdf

The protection for misuse of debit cards is strong, you just need to know what to do. If your bank isn't responsive, Move Your Money to a smaller institution that cares.

Re:It was a horrible idea then AND now

[oasisbob]

I have been telling people for YEARS how unwise it is to have or use a "debit" card with a Visa/MC logo on it. My bank kept INSISTING that I use one, and I would have to send it back and tell them to please send me a regular debit/ATM card. Many of the same people that thought I was "paranoid" and "obsessive" or just plain strange don't think so anymore.

You are paranoid. And ignorant. As long as you report the theft to your financial institution as soon as you learn about it, there are strong protections in place. It's simply not true that it's up to YOU to track down your money. It's up to your financial institution. They are required by law to credit you in the case of errors or unauthorized purchases, and are even required to issue a provisional credit in many cases before the investigation is complete.

A Visa Debit card carries the same protections as a Visa Credit card for signature based-transactions. PIN based transactions are still covered by Regulation E, which protects the consumer.

And there's no such thing as a perfectly good ATM card: with a skimmer, a fraudster can clone your ATM card and have your PIN. Fraudulent PIN based transactions are MUCH harder to refute. People call up all the time and say, "I have no idea how that person got my PIN number, I've never given it to ANYONE!" We (my bank) pull the ATM video, and sure enough it's their son/daughter. The consumer sheepishly admits, "Oh, well, I just told them my PIN once, months ago..." Given the choice between turning the video over to the police or rescinding the claim of unauthorized use, many people will choose the latter.

Re:Get a credit card

[scdeimos]

A lot of the audit rolls in cash registers also record card numbers. And yet business is heard to say, "we only store card numbers in encrypted data marts." My ass.

The bank HAS to refund your money.....

[JoeBanker]

I work IT in a community bank. I work very closely with our Operations and Fraud department. Here is what I can tell you about VISA debit card fraud. If you are a consumer, you are totally protected IF you report your debit card being lost, stolen, or compromised within 3 days that you became aware of it being lost, stolen, or compromised. The bank will also have a hard time proving when you found out you had a problem with your card. The bank HAS to give you your money back. VISA and Washington D.C. make all of these rules. The little known secret is that banks take huge losses on debit card fraud because the regulation coming from Washington D.C. totally protects the consumer. Most of the time in a fraud case, the bank isn't able to recover the money from the merchant and they have to refund the money to the consumer. Therefore, the banks lose money on VISA debit card fraud. As consumers, you really have nothing to worry about when it comes to VISA debit card fraud. You are totally covered. If you have a VISA business debit card though, you are not covered by the regulation and you are subject to taking losses in a fraud case. If you are a business owner, you better be REALLY CAREFUL when it comes to who has business debit cards tied to your accounts. In your case when the bank said 3 - 5 weeks to return your money, you should change banks. Go to a good community bank or credit union in your area. Somewhere that will recognize you as a person and not a number. Stay away from the large nationwide banks and regional banks. Especially the ones that are having loan trouble. They are trying to stay afloat by sticking all of their good customers with lots of account fees. I use my VISA debit card everywhere and never worry about fraud. You should do the same. I do suggest that you be careful using it on the Internet. As a computer security professional, I do recommend that you practice good computer security.... AV, Web Filtering, OpenDNS, Patching, etc....

Re:Only use a credit card

[KPexEA]

According to my credit card merchant agreement (for Visa and Mastercard) I am not allowed to offer a discount for cash or other forms of payment, I am also not allowed to charge a surcharge for their cards and I am also not allowed to ask for any extra Identification. I am surprised that Visa and MC are not enforcing that in all countries (we are in Canada).