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Pissingintowind
Jul 27, 2006
Better than shitting into a fan.

smackfu posted:

I still don't really get the point of a signature for fraud protection, especially if you swipe your own card and then write the signature on a terrible digitizer.

Does it really reduce fraud to make me scrawl something?

Not really.

Signature is stupid.

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Asymmetric POSTer
Aug 17, 2005

Pissingintowind posted:

Not really.

Signature is stupid.

Aren't the principles of a signature, while archaic and almost completely ignored today, not stupid though?

A primary use case for card-stolen fraud is to take the card to a high end retailer, buy some expensive poo poo, and try to resell it on ebay or whatever later (a lot harder today than 5-10 years ago though since the police/retailers watch ebay these days)

If you're buying something that costs $1000+ at a high end retailer, it's not a 2 second swipe and walk out kind of transaction, they will most likely ask to see your card, and there they can compare the signature you provide with the one on the back of your card as a part of a fraud screening procedure for the retail staff

But I agree 100% for sub $500 transactions having to sign little digital pads is idiotic, it's not like anyone is verifying these signatures anyway, it should just go through without a signature

Pissingintowind
Jul 27, 2006
Better than shitting into a fan.

mishaq posted:

Aren't the principles of a signature, while archaic and almost completely ignored today, not stupid though?

A primary use case for card-stolen fraud is to take the card to a high end retailer, buy some expensive poo poo, and try to resell it on ebay or whatever later (a lot harder today than 5-10 years ago though since the police/retailers watch ebay these days)

If you're buying something that costs $1000+ at a high end retailer, it's not a 2 second swipe and walk out kind of transaction, they will most likely ask to see your card, and there they can compare the signature you provide with the one on the back of your card as a part of a fraud screening procedure for the retail staff

But I agree 100% for sub $500 transactions having to sign little digital pads is idiotic, it's not like anyone is verifying these signatures anyway, it should just go through without a signature

In theory, the signature is compared. In practice, the minimum-wage staffer at the store doesn't care if it doesn't match, or simply says "close enough" and moves on. poo poo, half of the time they don't even check.

asur
Dec 28, 2012

mishaq posted:

Aren't the principles of a signature, while archaic and almost completely ignored today, not stupid though?

A primary use case for card-stolen fraud is to take the card to a high end retailer, buy some expensive poo poo, and try to resell it on ebay or whatever later (a lot harder today than 5-10 years ago though since the police/retailers watch ebay these days)

If you're buying something that costs $1000+ at a high end retailer, it's not a 2 second swipe and walk out kind of transaction, they will most likely ask to see your card, and there they can compare the signature you provide with the one on the back of your card as a part of a fraud screening procedure for the retail staff

But I agree 100% for sub $500 transactions having to sign little digital pads is idiotic, it's not like anyone is verifying these signatures anyway, it should just go through without a signature

I have never had a clerk at a high end store ask for my card regardless of purchase price. This is also ignoring that most people don't sppear to sign on the pad the same as they would a card or that the thief could take 5 minutes to practice the signature.

point of return
Aug 13, 2011

by exmarx
There's this credit card prank where someone uses progressively more ridiculous signatures to pay for things.

EDIT: replaced the archive.org link for one where all the images actually show up.

point of return fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Nov 21, 2014

SHISHKABOB
Nov 30, 2012

Fun Shoe
I've always been awful at my signature and got all anxious about it when I had to use those electric screen thingies. Then one day I made a joke about it to the cashier at the grocery store and he said "yeah some people just draw me pictures" so now I don't worry about it anymore.

Grassy Knowles
Apr 4, 2003

"The original Terminator was a gritty fucking AMAZING piece of sci-fi. Gritty fucking rock-hard MURDER!"

point of return posted:

There's this credit card prank where someone uses progressively more ridiculous signatures to pay for things.

You got me so excited that Zug might be back, but archive.org. :(

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Three Olives
Apr 10, 2005

What if Hitler invented the BMW i3 Subcompact Electric car?

smackfu posted:

I still don't really get the point of a signature for fraud protection, especially if you swipe your own card and then write the signature on a terrible digitizer.

Does it really reduce fraud to make me scrawl something?

I'm pretty sure that isn't the point of the signature, the signature is just an affirmative legal action that you are agreeing to the terms of the sale, not a method of fraud prevention.

It's more for if there is a dispute on a transaction after the fact the retailer can go back and say "The items and the price were clearly on this piece of paper that you signed.".

Although this was years and years ago, had to have been a decade, I don't remember the last time I wrote out a physical check, I actually had a check returned by my bank because of a very sloppy signature that they said didn't match the one on file.

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