News

Aussie police chief blames tap-and-go for 5% increase in crime

June 2, 2014

They might be convenient, but do we really want NFC-enabled “tap-and-go” ATMs? Police chief commissioner Ken Lay of Victoria State, Australia, thinks tap-and-go is a pretty bad idea overall.

Lay blamed tap-and-go for much of a 5 percent increase in crime in Victoria between March 2013 and March 2014, according to Australian news outlet ABC. This includes a year-over-year rise of 11,600 instances of theft by deception — mostly card fraud, he said.

NFC-enabled tap-and-go lets cardholders simply to tap their credit card against a payment terminal to pay for purchases up to A$100 ($92.45). The transaction is quick, but, the commissioner said, difficult to verify or trace without PIN or signature authentication.

And it’s not just the use of the card the police have to deal with, but also the initial theft of it.

"We're seeing many, many theft[s] of motor cars, handbags and burglaries where people are looking for these cards, are getting hold of them, and within hours of getting them, they're going into stores and using them,” Lay said.