LibroCard

Interac has a zero liability policy for cardholders: victims of fraud are reimbursed for unauthorized transactions. There is an extra layer of security with spending limits. No single transaction can exceed $250 and the consecutive contactless transactions cannot exceed $500. Once the $500 limit has been reached, a PINned transaction is required which will reset the limits. More than 10 million debit transactions are processed in Canada every day, and more than four billion take place a year without incident.

Prevent others from using or accessing your card, by keeping it secure and within control at all times. Always protect your PIN; cover the terminal when entering your number, and never disclose it to anyone. Make sure your PIN cannot be easily figured out. Don’t use your birth date, address or part of your telephone number. Monitor your account and immediately report any suspicious activity. Immediately report your card if it becomes lost or stolen.

• E-Pickpocketing claims that devices can be adapted to remotely scan the data from contactless bank cards. This is a myth. For every transaction, the card must be held four centimetres away from the terminal which makes stealing your card information quite difficult. Even if someone got your card number, they are not able to do anything with it. Card numbers are identifiers, not account numbers so it can’t be used to access your bank account.
• When making a contactless transaction there is no information changing hands that would be useful to criminals. Even if there was, the $400 limit is of minimal interest to crooks. Criminals today want to do large- scale fraud.
• The fewer transactions we process with a PIN, the less chance we have of being affected by fraud or skimming.