Netizens question PM’s initiative of ‘going cashless’ after viral video of Visa payWave scam

Update from Visa: Here is a video link about Visa’s commitment to payment security to counter the myth about insecure contactless payments.

Also, On the video that’s been circulating: In order for this scenario to work, people would need to have only a single card in their wallet at the moment the fraudster attempts to capture the information. There would also need to be a merchant and an acquiring bank providing the terminal being used, and both of those parties would receive the data from any attempted transactions.

A video circulating online went viral after it showed a possible scam with the Visa payWave card.

In the video, a victim had his wallet in his back pocket. A scammer took what resembled a NETS terminal and simply tapped the machine to the back pocket of the victim, for the transaction to go through.

The move towards going cashless has been an initiative taken on by the Singapore government since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong first made his announcement at the National Day Rally last year.

Prime Minister Lee also said that Singapore was not moving as fast as it ought to on digital transformation front, to which e-payment is a crucial component.

The video, shared on Facebook page ‘Fabrications about the PAP’ received more than one million views, 1400 shares and about 800 reactions.

Netizens found new and ingenious ways to prevent themselves from being ‘scammed’ in this manner. Some also questioned PM Lee’s initiative for the nation to go cashless.

While the method in the video used to ‘scam’ people seems highly improbable, it does bring to light issues that may arise from an over-dependence on technology.

https://theindependent.sg.sg/is-singapore-really-going-completely-cashless/

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