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To the person who found my credit card downtown last night: It may have seemed like a small miracle to you. There you were walking along and suddenly you see a black president's choice mastercard just laying on the sidewalk! 'It still looks new so it might even be active', you may have thought. You take it to the Superstore Gas bar, attempt a purchase, tap it on the credit-card machine and behold! It works! At this point, you may have thought, "I can't keep this good thing to myself - I have family/friends who haven't eaten in a while." You go over to Little Italy's Pizza and, after just a little time and a single tap, you walk out with $57 worth of pizza. Thinking now about the other needs in your life, you slip over to Superstore and make another couple of purchases: one in the store and another one at the gas bar with two more easy taps. You reason that this $218 spending spree on someone else's card is all OK because A. it's kind of the same as finding $218 in cash on the ground somewhere B. 'Finders-Keepers' C. I have real needs/wants and, D. finding this card gave me hope that life is good after-all! Well, just so you know, life was really good even before you found my credit card! What you did was wrong (and yes, for my part, I obviously wasn't careful like I ought to have been) and you were only one block away from the Police Station where you could have turned it in and felt spectacular about yourself. Nevertheless, I am aware that life could be very hard for you right now and finding my card might have given you and your family/friends a boost that you have needed. If that's the case, I gladly give you the $218. Yes, it's possible that PC Financial and their insurance will cover your fraudulent usage, and in that case, we will choose to pray a blessing on you as we're going through the hassle of changing all our auto-payments to a new card. I encourage you to keep the cancelled card, look at my name on it now and then, and remember that I am praying for you. May you come to discover that the best things in life are free, that God is a friend not a foe, and that you can make huge difference in this world even if you don't have a lot of your own money.  
 
Edited by KevinRatzlaff, 2017-08-29 11:26:32

Well done sir!  
 
Sorry about your card tho that sucks!

God isn't real so the other option is to have the police find them on camera at these locations and charge them. God probably wont reimburse you, but doing something about it may get your money back. Try not teaching this individual a lesson that stealing is okay and you wont get caught.

will definitely reimburse you for fraud on your card. Mine actually calls me if if somebody makes purchases that are outside my normal. May not help for purchases in Brandon if you are from Brandon but if you had not realized the card was taken and it was peddled somewhere else you have that protection. And I would contact police. All those establishments should have surveillance cameras to catch the people in question. Fraud is fraud!

And this is why I disabled my tap...and everyone thinks I'm crazy for doing so lol

Thanks for that. I had anticipated that the 'fraudulent use' department would be following up with the Brandon Police Service but that was a wrong assumption. I have now made a Police Report and there is likely some camera footage for 3 of those transactions. I agree that it's good to take the right actions in response to something like this so thanks for letting God speak to me through you!

The credit card companies are likely to freeze your card or call you about it if the purchases are made in another part of the world or continent. Purchases made in your own back-yard though are not quickly caught by the fraud departments.  
And I asked whether my "Tap" feature could be disabled but they said that's not a possibility with their company.

KevinRatzlaff said "Thanks for that. I had anticipated that the 'fraudulent use' department would be following up with the Brandon Police Service but that was a wrong assumption. I have now made a Police Report and there is likely some camera footage for 3 of those transactions. I agree that it's good to take the right actions in response to something like this so thanks for letting God speak to me through you! "

There so needs to be a like button for posts like this.  
 
Sorry you have to deal with all this.

RGJ8 said "God isn't real so the other option is to have the police find them on camera at these locations and charge them. God probably wont reimburse you, but doing something about it may get your money back. Try not teaching this individual a lesson that stealing is okay and you wont get caught. "

seems like he is comfortable with his belief in god , i hope that you are just as comfortable with whatever you believe in .

I hate the new tap cards.  
 
Had RBC disable my bank cards tap function right off the bat. Fortunately, Westoba bank cards come without that add on. At least for now.  
 
No such luck with either Visa or either Mastercard however. Since the cards are Visa and Mastercard property, the banks tend to deflect you to them. And I didn''t even bother trying to contact them (I admit), anticipating a brick wall. It''s a big corporation was talking about, after all.  
 
I have read online however that these cards can be rendered benign with the creative use of a hole punch. The RF mechanism in the card runs off of energy transmitted by the terminals, which is collected by a metal loop in the card. Break that metal loop, and the circuit is broken. Thus thieves or passive skimmers are SOL short of having the card AND its pin.  
 
Keep in mind that I haven''t actually tried this. But if anyone has . . . im all ears.  
 
Edited by Simonwalcal, 2017-08-30 01:40:53

I love the tap feature, and I don't understand why anyone would want to disable it, unless they are living very close to the limit and a small loss would hurt too much.  
 
Tap transactions for both debit and credit card are zero liability, so in a case like OP's, all of the money will be returned once they investigate the fraud. For a credit card, it's a no-brainer, since you're not on the hook for the charges, or any interest accrued. For debit, it does mean you could be down a small amount of money until the investigation is closed, but daily limits are pretty low (generally $50-200 depending on your bank), so it shouldn't be a burden for the majority of people.  
 
Potential fraud issues from lost cards aside, the actual technology is very secure. It can't be skimmed or replayed, like a magnetic strip (it's the same as the chip, in this respect). It also doesn't require you to expose your PIN to potential snoops/thieves, meaning that if your card is stolen, a thief is only going to be able to steal the small daily limit, not go to a bank machine and drain your account.  
 
I think people get nervous about a no-PIN transaction, without realizing there are benefits to the system beyond just convenience. (And even if there weren't, it's really, really convenient.)

I also like using the tap feature, but it is similar to back in the day when people had no other choice but cash or cheques. What ever amount of cash you carried in your wallet was probably gone if you lost your wallet. Similar to now if your loose your card with the tap feature, that limit could be gone if someone with no morals finds it. I lost my wallet years ago in Brandon and received a call from the fellow who found it, got everything back. There are good people out there - make sure you are one of them.

withallduerespect said "I also like using the tap feature, but it is similar to back in the day when people had no other choice but cash or cheques. What ever amount of cash you carried in your wallet was probably gone if you lost your wallet. Similar to now if your loose your card with the tap feature, that limit could be gone if someone with no morals finds it. I lost my wallet years ago in Brandon and received a call from the fellow who found it, got everything back. There are good people out there - make sure you are one of them. "

That''s incorrect though, flash transactions are zero liability:  
 
http://interac.ca/en/zero-liability  
 
You might lose the "cash" temporarily, but you won''t lose it permanently.  
 
That said, if you can't afford to absorb the temporary loss, then disabling it might be a good idea.  
 
Edited by pudds, 2017-08-30 11:36:23

pudds said "I love the tap feature, and I don't understand why anyone would want to disable it, unless they are living very close to the limit and a small loss would hurt too much.     Tap transactions for both debit and credit card are zero liability, so in a case like OP's, all of the money will be returned once they investigate the fraud. For a credit card, it's a no-brainer, since you're not on the hook for the charges, or any interest accrued. For debit, it does mean you could be down a small amount of money until the investigation is closed, but daily limits are pretty low (generally $50-200 depending on your bank), so it shouldn't be a burden for the majority of people.     Potential fraud issues from lost cards aside, the actual technology is very secure. It can't be skimmed or replayed, like a magnetic strip (it's the same as the chip, in this respect). It also doesn't require you to expose your PIN to potential snoops/thieves, meaning that if your card is stolen, a thief is only going to be able to steal the small daily limit, not go to a bank machine and drain your account.     I think people get nervous about a no-PIN transaction, without realizing there are benefits to the system beyond just convenience. (And even if there weren't, it's really, really convenient.) "

It can't be skimmed, but it can be picked up remotely. Walking past someone with a unit in their pocket, for example. Since every card these days has it . . . they may not just get one, they could get them ALL.  
 
Yes, it is zero liability. But I suspect there is a reason for that. Because they are easier to compromise than old school strip cards.  
 
Personally, chip & pin all the way.

Simonwalcal said "    pudds said "I love the tap feature, and I don't understand why anyone would want to disable it, unless they are living very close to the limit and a small loss would hurt too much.     Tap transactions for both debit and credit card are zero liability, so in a case like OP's, all of the money will be returned once they investigate the fraud. For a credit card, it's a no-brainer, since you're not on the hook for the charges, or any interest accrued. For debit, it does mean you could be down a small amount of money until the investigation is closed, but daily limits are pretty low (generally $50-200 depending on your bank), so it shouldn't be a burden for the majority of people.     Potential fraud issues from lost cards aside, the actual technology is very secure. It can't be skimmed or replayed, like a magnetic strip (it's the same as the chip, in this respect). It also doesn't require you to expose your PIN to potential snoops/thieves, meaning that if your card is stolen, a thief is only going to be able to steal the small daily limit, not go to a bank machine and drain your account.     I think people get nervous about a no-PIN transaction, without realizing there are benefits to the system beyond just convenience. (And even if there weren't, it's really, really convenient.) " It can't be skimmed, but it can be picked up remotely. Walking past someone with a unit in their pocket, for example. Since every card these days has it . . . they may not just get one, they could get them ALL.     Yes, it is zero liability. But I suspect there is a reason for that. Because they are easier to compromise than old school strip cards.     Personally, chip & pin all the way. "

According to the folks at Interac, the information that could potentially be skimmed with an RFID reader is not useful to the skimmer:  
 
http://interac.ca/en/interac-flash-security.html (see myth 1 near the bottom).  
 
This article says the same thing:  
 
http://globalnews.ca/news/2633347/reality-check-you-dont-need-rfid-protection-in-your-wallet/  
 
In theory, someone could possibly use an RFID skimmer to get your card number, in the same way that someone could capture it on camera, or write it down when you pass it to them. However, the thief still wouldn't have the PIN or CVV code required to actually process a transaction.  
 
Chip an PIN is still unquestionably the most secure option, but the way that contactless transactions are handled is still very secure: much more secure than the magnetic strip, which is very vulnerable.  
 
In the end though, I suppose it's all about acceptable risk. The convenience is well worth to me, as I can afford to go without a small amount of money for a while if someone does manage to physically steal my card. If it weren't zero liability, I'd probably feel differently, but it is, so I'm happy to use it.

Thanks I didn't realize there was "Zero liability".

My CU debit card has the tap feature. I love it! You can use the tap feature for purchases under $100, as soon as you hit $200 in purchases it requires you to put in your PIN number, so if someone was to take your card, the most they are going to get is $200 and you are covered 100% if you are a victim of fraud.

Just an update here, BPS used the security camera footage at the locations above to apprehend and charge someone for this theft. Thanks BPS for your hard work. Thanks everyone for posting. The article I wrote was therapeutic for me while I was trying to get over feeling violated. I do pray the best for this individual and hope that they will catch a larger vision for life.  
 
Edited by KevinRatzlaff, 2017-09-02 12:36:49

Nice to hear you had success with that!