UAE | General
'Personal data on receipts may help fraudsters'
Countless retail outlets in the UAE are breaching best practice guidelines by printing all 16 credit card numbers on receipts. Shoppers have told Gulf News they are unhappy that their full personal information is detailed on printouts, saying this makes life easy for fraudsters if receipts are lost.
- By Daniel Bardsley, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 7, 2006
Dubai: Shoppers have raised concerns that their full personal information is detailed on credit card receipts, saying they could fall prey to fraudsters if the papers are lost.
Credit card companies emphasise they have been recommending for "many years" that at least some digits are blanked out but many retailers have yet to comply, breaching best practice guidelines.
The amount of information on credit card receipts varies between different point-of-sale terminals, with the number of digits blanked out varying between zero and 12. Many give complete information.
Both Visa and MasterCard have been pressing acquiring banks and retailers to suppress the printing of at least four of the digits.
Since April 2005 Visa has insisted that all new point-of-sale terminals must blank out at least four digits and the company says that from April 2007 all companies must carry this out. The organisation described the suppression of at least four digits as "best practice" and said it has recommended it for all point-of-sale terminals for "many years".
MasterCard had also introduced similar demands in April last year.
Countless retail outlets in the UAE are breaching best practice guidelines by printing all 16 credit card numbers on receipts.
Shoppers have told Gulf News they are unhappy that their full personal information is detailed on printouts, saying this makes life easy for fraudsters if receipts are lost.
Daniel MacWilliams, 31, a British doctor, said he was surprised when he moved to the UAE to see receipts with all 16 digits, his name and his card's expiry date, printed on them.
"This is everything people need to use your card online. If I dropped a receipt, someone could pick it up and start buying things and I wouldn't find out until my next statement came.
"I can't believe they are being slack like this. It never happens in the UK and lots of other countries, so why should it happen here?" he said.
Pakistani sales executive Khan Rashid, 45, took the same view as MacWilliams, saying: "Security should be improved. They are not being careful enough."
The amount of information on credit card receipts varies between different point-of-sale terminals, with the number of digits blanked out varying between zero and 12.
The terminals are mostly supplied by acquiring banks organisations that are responsible for passing on credit card purchase information to the card companies although some major retailers deploy their own point-of-sale equipment.
High street banks that provide credit cards are not responsible.
Credit card giants Visa and MasterCard have both been pressing acquiring banks and retailers to suppress the printing of at least four of the digits.
Since April 2005 Visa has insisted that all new point-of-sale terminals must blank out at least four digits and the company says that from April 2007 all companies must carry this out.
Similarly, according to MasterCard rules introduced in April last year, all newly installed, replacement or relocated ATMs and point-of-sale terminals should only show the last four digits, blanking out the other 12.
Most outlets Gulf News spoke to say they have not updated their point of sale terminals but will have to by early next year.
Some outlets said they already comply with the rules.
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