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ATMs in Europe probably should not be able to read the mag stripe except when the chip does not work. Why do I have to insert the card fully, so that a skimmer
by biafra 10y ago
ATMs in Europe probably should not be able to read the mag stripe except when the chip does not work. Why do I have to insert the card fully, so that a skimmer can read the mag stripe? Why not have a way to only insert the chip and only if it can't be read make it possible to insert the whole card?
I only need the mag stripe in the US. Every terminal or ATM in Germany I ever encountered the last few years would read the chip. Only ATMs (most likely being undetected attacked by skimmer) swallow the whole card.
I don't get this industry.
On a related note: Is there something I can cover the mag stripe with that makes it unreadable, but can be removed easily if I need it?
- wallacoloo 10y agoYou could possibly ask your bank for a second card (or, if you have family, set up a shared account and get multiple cards that way) and then just cut off some/all of the magstripe from the primary card and use your secondary card as a backup.
- joosters 10y agoBecause the ATMs also accept cards from elsewhere in the world.
- biafra 10y agoMag stripe should be the inconvenient (two tries) exception. Not the default.