Monzo Fraud sending me a new card... out of the blue

I would not be surprised if this turned out not to be possible due to payment scheme requirements etc.

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I think a card number capable of online transactions is still required for payments to work, so even if you were to have a different number in the chip than the one printed on the card, it wouldn’t save you if a terminal is compromised and leaks the “internal” number as it can be used just the same way for online fraud.

Do you mean like the unique device/ card number Apple Pay assigns to each card in place of the actual card number when you add it to your wallet (so merchants don’t know the actual card number)?

Probably should implement Apple Pay for this security. :wink:

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I guess that whilst having a different card number printed on the card vs the one on the mag stripe vs the one ‘on the chip’ could work in most circumstances, it’s the edge cases which cause issues (it’s always the edge cases grumbles the programmer].

For example:

  • Ordering train/cinema tickets - you enter your card number (from the front of the card), go to the station and insert your card to pickup the tickets. It reads the (different) card number and no match…
  • Receipt matching - you go to return an item you purchased on your Monzo card at a retailer complete with your receipt. The merchant, as instructed by their payment processor, will only refund to the payment method you used - but the card you are presenting doesn’t have the same last four digits on it as your receipt…

Just a couple of edge cases I thought of. Personally, I’d like no number (or only partial number) printed on the card with the number visible in the app and the magstripe/chip number to be different but…sigh. Once everybody moves away from magstripe (USA I’m looking at you!) and a decent version of SecureCode/VerifiedByVisa comes out that should massively reduce fraud potential (until the chip security is cracked/bypassed…)

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This was the problem I got with Revolut. Because I topped up my card with Apple Pay, when proving my identity to get back my account the number didn’t match. I lost said card and had no way of knowing, took like two weeks for them to let me in a different way.

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Could we have a card with no magstripe and no number across the front? Unskimmable?

There are some banks abroad with debit cards that contain the card number internally but it is not embossed or printed on the surface and instead the card displays their IBAN instead (though not sure why) they do however retain a magstripe

Am I right in thinking one of the n26 cards has no card number?

Get a neodymium magnet and run it along the strip, or, get a HiCo writer and do what I do which is overwrite the tracks with useful things like my room key :+1:

(Edit: obviously if you do this you can’t use the card in magstripe ATMs common in the US amongst other countries. But that may be desirable :wink: )

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It would have to not support contactless as the PAN is available via that interface as well

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Always guaranteed an informative reply from Hugh! Great idea, thanks.

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Unskimmable?

The card number is still available from the EMV chip I believe.

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Would be a good idea for my gym pass, will save me carrying an extra card for that. :+1:

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As long as you don’t need the card for magnetic strip only ATMs abroad…

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Hico writers look expensive any cheap models you can recommend

All writers I’ve seen are extremely expensive, not sure why. I got mine for around 110£ on Amazon.

I got mine off eBay - was around £60 if I remember correctly?

I watched a video from a well respected tech outlet that went to see a “hacker” (organises Defcon hence my interest) with an NFC reader (they called it RFID) and presented the ability to read passport information and the PAN off EMV cards as a new and exciting exploit :woman_facepalming:

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Looks like it was this:

It links back to this thread :hushed:

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