Just received a handheld PIN reader from Natwest. I see it also works with my Lloyds and Nationwide cards.
I see it tells you if you entered the right PIN for your card. Is there anything to stop people from using this to go through all 10,000 PIN combinations to find out what the right one is for a particular card?
"Jonathan Bryce" wrote
Ermm - the chip on the card locking-up after three incorrect attempts? Wouldn't that stop them in their tracks somewhat?
If you get it wrong to many times in a row then it will lock you out until you get it reset by contacting the bank.
Mark
Yes - but it makes a great device for muggers to test PINs given by their victims!
"Jeremy Sanders" wrote
Hmmm. How long does the average mugger mind hanging around while mugging someone? I can just imagine it...
Mugger: "Giv us yer cards or oil 'nife ya...!"
Victim: "Here you go. Please don't stab me!!"
Mugger: "Hold on ther', let me wip out me PIN reader jobbie..." Mugger: " ... Now - what's your PIN on this first card?"
Victim: "Which card is that one?"
Mugger: "I'm not sure - it's green..."
Victim: "Let's have a look at it!"
Mugger: "I'll pull it back out of the reader..." [Mugger holds up card.] Mugger: " ... this one"
Victim: "Oh, that's the XXX card. I don't usually use that one very often. Let me see, what's the PIN ... err ... I think it might be abcd - try that!"
Mugger: "A - B - C - D, Enter ..." Mugger: " ... Nope, that's not right."
Victim: "Oh dear. Let me have a think... err ... err ... Oh yeah, maybe it's wxyz - try that!"
Mugger: "Let's see, W - X - Y - Z, Enter ..." Mugger: " ... Nope, that's not right either!" Mugger: "Let's try another card, and you'd betta get it rite this time. What's the PIN on this one?" [Mugger holds up another card.]
Victim: "I think that one might be..."
[Plod arrives.] Plod: "Allo Allo Allo, what's going on 'ere then?"...
Two things wrong 'ere.
Plods don't say "Allo Allo Allo", they say "Ello Ello Ello".
They also don't just appear out of thin air, and even if your victim carried some sort of silent alarm, or some well-meaning witness called the police, there's no way they would arrive in the short while it takes to act out the bit I snipped.
The times when all you had to do was whistle, and a plod or two would come running, lie back many decades.
What the victim says is "hang on, I store all my PINs in my phone" (lots of people do apparently).
Then he switches the phone to silent and dials 999 before going through his phone book looking for the fake numbers which are really his PIN.
By the time the victim has found the relevant fake numbers and the mugger has tested all the PINs, the 999 control room will have located the mobile by triangulation and sent plod.
Well it's as credible a theory as a mugger using one of these PIN devices.
"Ronald Raygun" wrote
"Ronald Raygun" wrote
Heheh - this one did, he was french!!
"Ronald Raygun" wrote
Do they *really* ? ;-)
"Ronald Raygun" wrote
OK, so the plod arriving just in the nick of time might have been a bit of artistic licence for the purposes of an "entertaining story"(!), but isn't it true that muggers don't like hanging around when they are mugging someone? Anything might happen ...
"Ronald Raygun" wrote
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