There is no doubt that cards have become an essential accessory in our day to day
If we found a credit card on the street, could we use it? Although we would be committing a fraud crime, the reality is that we could make online payments and purchases in stores if the card is contactless until its true owner blocks it. This is precisely what banks want to avoid. And, for this, some entities have erased the data from their cards and have implemented dynamic CVVs with the aim of reducing fraudulent operations and making their means of payment more secure, explain the experts of the card and financial products comparer Eracvv.
Cards have become an essential accessory in our day to day. In USA there are 87.55 million cards in circulation, according to the Banks. However, for some, having a card ends up becoming a real problem if it is stolen or duplicated.
“During 2018 there were just over a million fraudulent operations with cards” issued in Spain, for an amount of 88 million euros, according to a 2018 report from the Spanish regulator. The study reveals that “the previous figures represent 1.4 fraudulent operations per year for every 100 cards, for an amount of 74 euros ”. The increase in fraudulent operations has caused claims on cards submitted to the Bank of Spain to skyrocket in 2019.
Cards without numbers more secure
What is the bank doing to fight fraud? His latest strategy is to erase the sensitive data from the cards. No numbering, no expiration date or CVV (the three-digit code that is usually on the back of the cards) printed, only the name of the holder and the bank’s logo.
Cards without numbers prevent the customer from carrying sensitive information on him and protect him in case the card is lost or stolen, since, since it does not have the payment information printed on its surface, it cannot be used to make online payments unauthorized .
Orange Bank was the first entity to launch a debit card without numbers in Spain. He did it in July of last year with Mastercard and can be requested free of charge. Their numbering and the rest of the data are not shown on the card and when they want to make an online purchase, the cardholder can check them by identifying himself through the app.
A CVV that changes every 5 minutes
Hiding your card details protects against theft and loss, but it does not prevent someone from cloning your card on the Internet. For this reason, BBVA has gone one step further. Its range of Aqua cards, released in October last year, have neither the number nor the expiration date printed and have a dynamic CVV.
Aqua cards generate a different CVV code for each online purchase valid for only five minutes , so in the event that a third party steals the data, you will not be able to use the card to buy online, as the CVV will have changed quickly. The cardholder can consult the numbering of his card as well as the code through his app whenever he wants.
In just over two months since its launch, BBVA had already issued almost 200 thousand Aqua cards, mainly debit cards. Currently, new bank customers who sign up for the Online Account without commissions and without linking will receive an Aqua debit card with no annual fees.
The German neobank Vivid Money , which has just opened its doors in Spain, has also deleted the numbers from its metallic debit card, which is free, in which the only identifying information that appears is the customer’s name. In addition, if it is suspected that the card data may have been compromised, new ones can be requested from the app and the old ones will no longer be available. Vivid Money allows you to renew them between 5 and 10 times a month for free , depending on whether the customer’s account is prime or standard.
The idea of the dynamic CVV, also called CVC, is not new. In December 2019, Deutsche Bank and Mastercard presented the Calma Card , the first to incorporate Motion Code technology in Spain. “The CVC changes randomly every four hours through a complex algorithm that only the card issuer knows,” Deutsche Bank explained at the time. Unlike the rest of the entities, in which the code has to be consulted through the app , the Calma card incorporates an extra-flat screen on the back in which the CVV changes.