THE introduction of chip-and-PIN credit cards will do little to prevent fraud, according to researchers.

Misplaced faith in the security of the technology is making customers and staff less vigilant at checkouts, according to research at the University of East Anglia, with staff less likely to spot even obvious signs that a card has been obtained fraudulently.

In one part of the study, Emily Finch, the lead researcher, used a card bearing a male colleague’s name repeatedly without once being challenged. If a PIN was entered correctly, staff did not bother to check other details.

Meanwhile, criminals are concentrating on identifying a PIN by watching over a customer’s shoulder and then creating a distraction to steal the card. Few people shield the keypad when making transactions, Dr Finch said, relying on others to obey the convention of looking away.

When thieves do not know the number of a stolen card, they will often enter a bogus number, then claim they cannot get the hang of the system and charm the cashier into swiping the card for a signature. The signature is then rarely checked.

Another increasingly popular tactic is to make fraudulent applications for credit cards, which reach the criminal complete with a PIN.

Other criminals have changed strategy towards “card not present” fraud over the telephone and internet. Recent figures show that this form of fraud has increased by as much as 150 per cent since chip-and-PIN was introduced.

A spokeswoman for the Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) said: “In the past all a criminal had to do was get a card. Now you have to get the card and the PIN. Early indications are that lost and stolen card fraud is going down.”

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