Reporting on insights gained into UK citizens' perceptions of contactless card risks

Contactless debit cards are widely used in the UK, slowly becoming
popular in other countries as well. The feature that distinguishes these cards
from regular ones is that they can be used without entering a PIN if the transaction
amount is below a predetermined limit. This is undeniably convenient,
but introduces a risk: cards could be lost or stolen, and the new holder could
make purchases without providing a PIN. European banking regulations (PSD2)
mandate that customers be fully refunded by their banks in these cases (as long
as no negligence can be proven). While the law is clear regarding liability and
citizens’ actual contactless card risks, we wanted to explore UK citizens’ perceptions
in this respect. We conducted an online survey, specifically exploring
the perceptions of liability, severity and likelihood of contactless card fraud. We
discovered that participants’ risk perceptions were not aligned with their actual
risk. In particular, most participants assumed that they themselves would be liable
for any contested transactions. There are clear lessons to be learned – also
valid for other EU countries – emphasising the need to ensure that consumers
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are aware of their rights in this respect.