Chip and PIN blamed for making ID theft easier

Chip and PIN technology and ID cards will make it easier for criminals to engage in fraud and identity theft instead of tackling the problem, according to a leading criminologist.

Dr Emily Finch, researcher at the University of East Anglia, claims checkout staff in shops are less vigilant about transactions because of new anti-fraud technology, such as chip and PIN cards, and that criminals are exploiting this.

Research carried out by the university found criminals are 'shoulder surfing' customers as they type in their PIN numbers at the checkout and then stealing the cards, or using a stolen card by pretending to be a confused customer who has forgotten their PIN number so they are allowed to sign the receipt instead.

Finch and one of her male colleagues conducted an experiment by seeing how often they could shoulder surf customers' PIN numbers at a checkout and found it was easy to do. They also swapped each others cards to pay for goods and yet were never challenged over using a card that obviously belonged to someone of the opposite sex.

"One of the things we found quite alarming was how much the human element has been taken out of point-of-sale transactions.

"Point-of-sale staff are told to look away when people put their PIN number in - so they don't check at all," she told The Guardian.

Criminals would also find ways around biometric ID cards by exploiting this trust in technology to detect fraudulent transactions, according to the research.

"So fraud is actually easier. There is very little vigilance at the point-of-sale any more. Fraudsters know this and they are taking advantage of it," she told the newspaper.

Finch, who also conducted a series of interviews with 'career' criminals for the research, said they are increasingly making fraudulent credit card applications by gathering personal information on victims from publicly available registers and by trawling through bins for discarded bills.