From: norm 
Newsgroups: uk.finance uk.legal
Subject: Re: Petrol Station rip off
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:59:21 +0100

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:56:39 +0100, "tim....."
 wrote:

>
>"norm"  wrote in message 
>news:nj0n23d4g0db6l8v3fj7irnvjsbjooqvbb@4ax.com...
>> The recently exposed 'Sri Lankan' card scam seems to involve someone
>> scanning the magnetic strip and using a pin entry keyboard that has
>> been tampered with to get the pin.
>>
>> I understand that there is a complex authentication and encryption
>> process between the chip on the card and the combined card-reader and
>> keypad which should mean that duplication or reading of the chip's
>> data is rather more difficult.
>>
>> I therefore believe that I can greatly increase the security of any
>> transaction by wiping a damn great magnet over the magnetic strip on
>> my card, thereby destroying the data contained on it.
>
>this will work if you only put your card in
>C+P devices.
>
>what happens when you want to withdraw cash
>abroad?
>
>tim
>

Fair point, but I'd use a separate card for that. Anyway, this scam
isn't happening in foreign cash point machines, so using two cards
would dramatically reduce the chance of loss in my case where my
petrol transactions outnumber my visits to foreign cash machines by
about 300:1.  This would be true for most people.