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Press Release

Tesco self-scan tills open to card fraud

5 October 2006

A security loophole on Tesco self service tills is making it easy for thieves to buy goods with stolen cards, says Which?

At around 200 of the supermarket’s stores, shoppers can scan in their shopping themselves, then pay for groceries with a debit or credit card. The flaw in the system is that Tesco doesn’t require people to sign or enter a pin.

Which? has been contacted by several angry people who found themselves hundreds of pounds out of pocket after crooks copied their cards and used them at these tills. These people have since been refunded by their banks.

Researchers from the consumer charity tested it out and found it easy to buy goods using someone else’s card at a Tesco superstore in London - without any procedure to prove identity or ownership of the card.

Tesco has told Which? it will introduce chip and pin at these tills, though it couldn’t say when.

Neil Fowler, editor, Which?, said:
“It’s hard to believe that the UK’s biggest supermarket is making it so easy for criminals to use stolen credit cards in their stores. We think it’s highly irresponsible.
“As a shop that prides itself on caring about its customers, we can only hope they close this obvious loophole and introduce standard security procedures in the very near future.”



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