Russian Civic Initiative posted a proposal to prohibit contactless credit cards.
Proposal authors believe that losing a contactless credit card could cost its owner their money, the risk being the highest for pensioners. Contactless cards are accepted for payments of up to RUR 1K ($14) without a PIN. In some cases, the limit is even higher.
The public activists argue that pensioners, for whom it may be difficult to connect their bank cards to a mobile device or block the card if it gets lost, may be at a higher risk of becoming theft victims.
BCS Broker Chief Investment Strategist Maxim Shein said that PIN-less payments are convenient and there is no need to cancel them.
“Pensioners become victims of other fraudulent activity much more often. Moreover, paying with a pensioner’s card in a store and being caught on CCTV is not worth RUR 900 ($13),” the expert notes.
AMarkets Analytics Director Artem Deev also suggests that cancelling PIN-less payments completely is not a great idea in the current circumstances.
“Contactless cards proved both their convenience and efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies asked their customers to use contactless payments in order to avoid unnecessary touching of surfaces and to minimize store visits (such payments are also faster),” the analyst commented. “Those banks that will opt out of contactless cards will lose some of their clients who are used to the new system. Private financial organizations could make issuing contactless cards their advantage. Still, security requirements must be observed; therefore, the public must be able to have a choice. Customers must be fully informed about all potential risks and existing scams.”