Contactless bank cards

[Ian Batten]

On 16 Nov 2010, at 10:41, Ian Batten wrote:

>>>> 
>>> His EPOS system should tell him that.
>> 
>> How? 
> 
> It breaks down transactions by payment type.  It'll say "£300 cards, £600 cash".  And if there's not £600 in the till, there's a problem.  Oddly enough, large EPOS systems have been subject to attempted fraud before.  The old favourite was getting a crooked till assistant to accept stolen cheques in exchange for cash from the till, which is the same route you're trying to use.

Oh, and by the way: ever wondered why shops are so keen on ".99" prices?    Unless someone carries a lot of loose change, it means the till has to be opened for every transaction.  Unless you operate a shop which prices everything in round pounds (round 10 pounds, probably, given that university cashpoints seem to be the last place on earth that issue fivers), people who pay cash (who you need for your fraud to work) are going to have to be prepared to either not have any change, take their change from the pile you keep beside the till or you're going to have to open the till.    What transaction are you going to ring up to do that, exactly?   

At best, your scheme allows you to replace a transaction from a customer who pays the exact price and doesn't want a receipt with a hooky card transaction, until late in the evening when there isn't enough cash in the till and you get sacked.   And even that's assuming you can spot people who are going to pay the exact amount before you ring it up on the till: in practice, people look at the amount and compare it with the shrapnel they want to get rid of.    You'll have to find a way to say "that'll be ten quid mate" and take the money without opening the till, without anyone else (and shops with lone workers tend to have CCTV for H&S reasons) noticing.   You might be able to do it if you're a sole proprietor, I guess.

ian