I have just discovered from a colleague that if you use a debit or credit card to purchase something in Pret a Manger, and the amount totals under £15, you do not have to provide a pin number OR sign for the purchase. They simply swipe your card and that’s it.

Now excuse me if I am being slow here, but when the hell did that come in?! And why is this allowed? The whole idea of the Chip and Pin system to lessen the chance of fraud yet this little loophole means anyone can make purchases under £15 on a card and they don’t have to give any form of authorisation.

Working with Pret A Manger’s bank, Ingenico developed a card payment service, which is being introduced throughout the company’s 150 stores.

The Chip based system caters to peak shopping times and high customer throughput, allowing customers to use their credit or debit card without entering a PIN or giving a signature when paying less than £15.
Ingenico Website

So it becomes clear. This has been brought in to increase the amount of people that can be served. A benefit for the shop, but where is the benefit for the customer? The organisations goes on the state:-

Pret A Manger customers paying more than £15 further benefit from Chip and PIN services, providing increased protection against fraud for higher value transactions. Thanks to Ingenico, Pret A Manger customers benefit from the increased choice of payment methods without any extra time spent at the till.
Ingenico Website

However it is not made clear how Ingenico are providing increased protection against fraud. How can that be provided if no address, pin, signature or in fact anything, is being asked for at point of sale?

Fair enough, it is only £15 max. Its not much right? But if your card was stolen and you only realised it after a day, how many purchases do you think could have been made in 24hours, without an eyebrow even being raised? In most Chip and Pin situations, the customer doesn’t need to (and shouldn’t really) hand their card to the cashier – meaning the name on the card, which could indicate fraud, won’t even be seen either.

Now at the moment, it seems that it is only Pret that are offering the service, and fair enough – fraudsters may not want to keep eating their way through Pret, but how long to do think it will be before other shops role out this service? All business want to increase customer sales and this would help them to quickly process the smaller sales. Clothes shops, supermarkets and shops like Boots and Superdrug may all benefit from this and think of how much opportunities criminals would have then?

The extent to which the public are exploited to benefit businesses and criminal activity never ceases to amaze me.