PIN or paywave? It’s the customer’s call

PETALING JAYA: Expecting to enter your six-digit personal identification number (PIN) for a transaction using your payment card, but the cashier taps or waves it at the terminal instead?

There have been many instances where merchants, upon getting hold of a customer’s credit or debit card, use the “paywave” function without the permission of the cardholder.

A source familiar with payment systems said technically, there was no need for a customer to hand over his or her card to the merchant – be it for PIN or paywave payments.

The cashier can key in the amount first, and this can be followed by the customer slotting in the card for the PIN to be keyed in, or to use the contactless payment method, the source said.

The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) said cardholders should decide whether they wanted to insert their cards or use the contactless facility.

“Retailers need to be trained not to request or accept the customer’s card but to offer the PIN pad to the customer to give them a choice whether to use PIN or the contactless payment method.

“Banks have started this process of education and awareness for cardholders and retailers.

“However, like all exercises involving a change in behaviour, this process takes time,” ABM said.

Visa Malaysia country manager Ng Kong Boon said cardholders should be allowed to choose their preferred mode of payment and merchants should honour their request.

“Visa has been working with acquirers and their merchants to encourage merchants to provide training to their staff on payment procedures.

“This is a continuous process and we are consistently undertaking these efforts to ensure that cardholders have a consistent and reliable payment experience,” Ng said.

Among the most common contactless payment methods in the country are payWave by Visa and PayPass by Mastercard. They can be used for transactions over the counter of up to RM250.

Cardholders are also advised to keep their PIN a secret so that their cards are protected against lost and stolen card fraud.

ABM said cardholders should avoid numbers that can be associated with them such as birthdays or anniversaries, telephone number or driver’s licence number.

To date, there is no report on credit or debit card fraud via the PIN and paywave system.