Recently had my Monzo card cloned but could have been a lot worse

[leonardh (Leonard)]

Ahh shoot - didn’t think if the card was duplicated . But like I said - the idea is good and only benefits us!

[caspararemi (Caspar)]

@anon23935806

I can’t find it right now but I remember reading a blog post about someone trying to see how far he could go regarding the signatures. He got pretty much every transaction approved without signing or with signing “I do not authorise this transaction”. The only time that failed was when he tried to buy an expensive TV and someone actually bothered to check the signature.

I remember this blog! I found a bunch of references to it linking to an expired domain, but found it archived - it’s been ten years but I’m pretty sure this is the article I remember https://web.archive.org/web/20060813122208/http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit_card/

[Perki_ALP (Ashley)]

I might be one of few who checks that cards provided are signed on the reverse, before starting a transaction, there are still a large number of cards that aren’t signed, when questioned, I often get told that cards are now chip and pin so it shouldn’t matter.

[misterm]

The point for Mozo I’d think is this - if a retailer takes a fraudulent transaction, Monzo can easily reverse via MasterCard and retiailer is stuck with bill, with an ATM transaction Monzo can’t reverse

[anon23935806]

Well personally if I was the clerk I wouldn’t check either as it’s so easy to bypass for a fraudster. In fact I’d say most invalid/blank signatures would be from legitimate customers where as fraudsters will have fake plastic with a signature they can replicate.

[Ston9]

Just a quick update. The scammers have just tried to use my card to pay 100 GBP worth of stuff at boots in eldon square Newcastle! Which of course doesn’t work since it is frozen! My card unfortunately have probably fallen into some uk wide cloned card database and scammers around the country are trying out the numbers in that database.

[anon23935806]

This is where my idea of an overall magstripe toggle (not limited to ATMs) would’ve been useful - that way the author could’ve continued to use their card as normal (via EMV) while waiting for the new one.

[Snowball]

Why just not sign the back of cards?

[Rosie]

I wonder if it would be possible for Monzo to automatically block transactions in a location where the card holder isn’t (or have an option for this)

Presumably they could track location through the app and have some sort of “if card isn’t within X metres of app then decline transaction”

Or would that cause more problems than it would solve?

[caspararemi (Caspar)]

There is an option (on iOS at least) for location based security which sounds like it does this I think. I’ve never enabled it.

[BobT (Bob)]

Location based security plays a part in reducing fraudulent use but it doesn’t prevent it alone. Many transactions take place without the phone being close by or the phone battery dies.

[jtame (Jake Tame)]

Rosie
I wonder if it would be possible for Monzo to automatically block transactions in a location where the card holder isn’t (or have an option for this)
Presumably they could track location through the app and have some sort of “if card isn’t within X metres of app then decline transaction”
Or would that cause more problems than it would solve?

Personally I give my cards to my wife to use on occassions so this wouldn’t work.

There should be a flag on the app to say that whether your on holiday / select country to allow payments from that particular country if you are on holiday.

[j06 (Jamie)]

@jtame

There should be a flag on the app to say that whether your on holiday / select country to allow payments from that particular country if you are on holiday.

I’d prefer a more intelligent approach. Currently I have to inform my legacy bank if I plan to go abroad, which feels constrictive and ‘how a legacy bank would do it’, passing the responsibility back onto me to inform THEM of my life plans and penalising me if I don’t adhere to their rules. Monzo should be different and know when I’m abroad. By the same token, it should know when I’m being defrauded. I accept some instances may slip through the net, but then that’s why Monzo got their banking licence, to cover me, right?

[Ston9]

This would have deterred the fraudulent transactions that occurred to me as both occurred in cities far from where I am. Here’s hoping it would be ported over to the Android version soon.

[Ghostofcain (Alun phillips)]

It certainly would for me. Currently in Toronto no data roaming, so only receive notifications when within WiFi areas so app also wouldn’t know where I was when making purchases, also today I left my phone on charge whilst visiting the city.

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

@j06

Monzo should be different and know when I’m abroad. By the same token, it should know when I’m being defrauded. I accept some instances may slip through the net, but then that’s why Monzo got their banking licence, to cover me, right?

It knows both of those things, to a certain extent.

Just a quick reminder for everyone in this thread - Monzo are liable for any fraudulent transactions on your card, as long as you keep to the T’s & C’s. In other words they will reimburse you for the fraudulent payments. So it’s very much in their interest to reduce fraud as much as they possibly can.

[jzw95]

@misterm

if a retailer takes a fraudulent transaction, Monzo can easily reverse via MasterCard and retiailer is stuck with bill

I’m not sure this is true. According to the EMV transition guidance that @RichardOwen posted above:

A fallback transaction normally occurs when a chip card, presented at a chip terminal, cannot be read due to a technical issue with the chip which results in the technology “falling back” to a magnetic stripe transaction. This situation is not expected to occur frequently since the chips on the cards rarely fail. In some situations, a fraudster may create a counterfeit card with an intentionally damaged chip in order to invoke this scenario. For this reason, fallback transactions are deemed risky by the payments industry. Since the issuer holds liability on fallback transactions, they may choose to decline them when they are sent for authorization.

Assuming this applies in the UK (which may not be the case), Monzo would be liable for the fraudulent transaction at a retailer.

I agree that it would be useful for the magstripe to be disabled for POS transactions as well as ATMs. However, I think this would need to be a separate toggle. If travelling in a country that still uses magstripe, it would be a hassle (and potentially problematic depending on network access) to have to hit the toggle every 24 hours, just so you could use your card in shops.

[anon23935806]

Having tried it, I know that Tesco disables fallback - their terminals don’t even attempt to read magstripes. I’m not sure how many retailers disable it as well but I’m curious to know.

[woz]

Is one of the t&c’s not sharing the card with anyone else, for example your wife? (I’m referring to jtame post above)

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

You can.. but it’s not recommended -

Giving someone else permission to use card

Yep just to second the above, we wouldn’t advise giving your card and sharing your pin number with anyone. We don’t encourage this as it compromises the security on your account. If you do decide to share these details then as our terms say that you will be treated as authoring and consenting to any payments on the account, and we won’t be able to reimburse you for any of these transactions.