Having had my Visa Debit card blocked twice in as many weeks, I'm beginning to question if our current "Plastic" cards are fit for purpose. A somewhat long story follows with a question at the end:
About 2 weeks ago, Skinny decided not to honour my perfectly valid Visa card. I contacted my bank to find out why my card was being rejected. They let me know that some businesses won't take payment on cards that are approaching expiry and Skinny, apparently, won't take payment if the card expires in the following month. The card was due to expire in 8 weeks!
I find it ridiculous to reject payments that far from expiry! What would you do if you only had access to one credit card?
I switched cards on the account and in the process the Skinny interface initiated three transactions in quick succession, of which two should not have occurred. Another long story, but it took four hours (yes 4) to sort that out. These transactions triggered my bank to block the newly registered card and warned me via text message. Thankfully, a quick reply text was all that was needed to unblock the card.
My new card arrived a week or two later (they sent it out early) - all good once I used it to make a local purchase via EFTPOS. (This card had the same card number but different CVV)
A little over a week later, I receive a text message from my bank:
We've blocked your Visa Debit Card due to some suspicious transactions to Google YouTube Super. If this was you, please reply AUTHORISED. If not, please give us a call on #### or pop into your local branch
These were not my transactions, so a call was made. Apparently, the card number was/had been used on multiple (21) relatively small transactions in Australia. The bank's only option was to cancel the card and re-issue me a new one. How these transactions were being validated without the CVV (unless they had 'cracked' it), I don't know. These were Google transactions, so I would expect them to have been validated?
Luckily, I was due to travel to town - a little over two hours round trip! So I went into my closest branch and received a new card (with a new card number this time). Another EFTPOS transaction at a local shop and it's good to go again.
I've no doubt there are others who have had similar experiences?
I can't remember the last time I used cash, though I always carry some. For me, a cashless society mostly works.
The discussion I had with my bank suggests that these type of blocks, due to unauthorised transactions, are on the rise significantly.
So what is the future of "money"? How can transactions be made without inconvenience, but still be secure and safe from unauthorised access?
Really just a topic starter and I felt I needed to tell the story.
Monero, it's the only digital currency that resembles cash.
Cryptocurrency, in all its flavours and colours, is a scam. Don't buy into that bullshit.
This is a blanket statement that simply isn't true.
Most crypto is a scam, for sure, but the technology is sound and could easily be implemented for everyday life.
Unless you look at that pesky evidence
And what evidence is there that all Crypto currencies are a scam?
And for the record, I am not a crypto bro. I don't hold any crypto, and have no interest in doing so.
Maybe it theoretically could, but it won't, because it's a scam and its entire purpose is to be a scam. That's why cryptocurrency was invented: to separate people from their actual money.
It most definitely was not invented to "separate people from their actual money", and since the original white paper's author is unknown, you absolutely cannot back up that statement.
Many crypto currencies have been made more accurately as pyramid schemes, definitely. But nothing about the technology requires this, Bitcoin and many of the largest, most stable currencies absolutely weren't invented as pyramid schemes, and there is nothing stopping a government from using the technology to created a fiat currency.
Not useful to make everyday purchases is it?