At airport...arrival...ATM's??

[scottish-guy]

The Old Git makes makes a fair point - around 2000/2001 I ran out of cash in a large go-go bar in Soi Twilight (to protect the innocent I should say that bar is now closed) and in a mixture of desperation and not a little naivety I used a Credit Card to settle the bill. This was in the days of the old machine imprinted credit card vouchers which you then signed, so it was normal routine to take your card for imprint and bring it back.

I did notice that it seemed to be away a long time and I actually had to ask for it back as we were ready to leave.

Thought nothing more of this (other than they were slow) until a couple of weeks after I got back and the credit Card fraud department called me to ask about goods I'd apparently bought in Australia and Singapore. Of course I'd been neither of these places and the truth was the card had been cloned and used up to its limit.

I didn't lose any money as I could prove I hadn't been in Australia or Singapore - but a lot of hassle.

MORAL: Using a payment card in what's effectively a Thai brothel might be asking for trouble!!

[cdnmatt]

Another piece of advice, that I like to use at least, is make sure with your main bank account you have an extra savings / checking account that is available via online banking, but not via ATM. Keep 95% of your money in the account that's not available via ATM. When you need money, just hop into online banking, transfer the funds to the ATM-enabled account, and pull them out. This way if you're ever forced to a ATM (I was once in Barbados years ago), you can show them your account balance, shrug your shoulders and say, "sorry dude, see, I only have $200".

As for the credit card theft posted above, find a bank that will offer you a proper VISA. You should get two credit card numbers -- one that is printed on the card, and another that is nowhere on the card. The # printed on the card will only go through if the card is physically present and swiped through the POS terminal, whereas the second # will go through for online transactions. This way, even if a waiter or someone copies down your card #, it won't work for online transactions -- the bank will decline it since the card wasn't physically swiped through the terminal. Simple concept, but very effective, and most banks these days offer it.

[scottish-guy]

..Simple concept, but very effective, and most banks these days offer it.

Simple indeed but (as a merchant myself) I don't know of any UK bank which offers two separate cards for 1) customer present and 2) customer not present transactions - you routinely get ONE card whether its VISA or Mastercard. No doubt someone will correct me!

In the UK all you need for a customer not present transaction is the Card Number, Expiry Date, Card Security Code (on the signature strip), Customers House number and Postcode digits. The first 3 are easily obtained and misused, the last two are tricky for a casual fraudster.

[cdnmatt]

As a merchant, you will know, VISA and Mastercard do not require either, AVS or CVV checks to pass in order to let the payment through. All they require is the CC# and expiry date. Your bank / payment processor might, but VISA and MC in and of themselves do not. The AVS & CVV checks are there as guides for merchants, but are not restrictions.

Yeah, Canada doesn't offer the 2 CC# thing either, and I don't know why, as loads of countries do. I know for sure Hungary, Czech Republic, Malta, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia all offer it, because I've had cards from all those countries before. Not sure why places like the UK and Canada don't offer it. It's such a simple and effective solution to such a widespread problem.

[Old git]

"I don't know of any UK bank which offers two separate cards for 1) customer present and 2) customer not present transactions - you routinely get ONE card whether its VISA or Mastercard. No doubt someone will correct me!"

I think you're right, unless possibly you have a joint account with someone.

A few years back a friend had his debit card eaten by a Thai ATM that he then learned was constantly swallowing cards without reason - but it screwed him up royally..

When I got back home that year I asked my bank (Barclays) if I could have a second debit card on my current account in case that happened to me - they refused, but allowed me to open a second current account with its own debit card. Given that I can access my online banking with either card and switch funds between them as needed, this has proved an effective safeguard.

[cdnmatt]

Simple indeed but (as a merchant myself) I don't know of any UK bank which offers two separate cards for 1) customer present and 2) customer not present transactions - you routinely get ONE card whether its VISA or Mastercard. No doubt someone will correct me!

Sorry, I should clarify. You said you're coming back to Thailand shortly, so go grab an account at say K-Bank, and you'll see what I mean, because I know they offer it by default. You'll get a debit card with a VISA# imprinted on it, but try using that VISA# for an online purchase at Amazon, and it won't go through. However, login to K-Bank online banking and you'll find a second VISA# attached to the same card / account. Go ahead and use that CC# for your Amazon purchase, and it will go through just fine. Again, very simple and effective solution, and adopted in many countries, but not within the Western world for some reason.

A waiter can steal your CC#, but unless he has the ability to print cards with properly encoded magnetic strips, the CC# will be totally useless to him.

[frequent]

Another piece of advice, that I like to use at least, is make sure with your main bank account you have an extra savings / checking account that is available via online banking, but not via ATM. Keep 95% of your money in the account that's not available via ATM. When you need money, just hop into online banking, transfer the funds to the ATM-enabled account, and pull them out. This way if you're ever forced to a ATM (I was once in Barbados years ago), you can show them your account balance, shrug your shoulders and say, "sorry dude, see, I only have $200".

As for the credit card theft posted above, find a bank that will offer you a proper VISA. You should get two credit card numbers -- one that is printed on the card, and another that is nowhere on the card. The # printed on the card will only go through if the card is physically present and swiped through the POS terminal, whereas the second # will go through for online transactions. This way, even if a waiter or someone copies down your card #, it won't work for online transactions -- the bank will decline it since the card wasn't physically swiped through the terminal. Simple concept, but very effective, and most banks these days offer it.

Surely we're all using Bitcoin these days?

[christianpfc]

Do you have on-line banking? As soon as I make an ATM withdrawal it is shown immediately if I go on line and check balances. Can then figure out the exchange rate. Basically the same as the XE rate at that time.

Yes I do. By bank statement I mean the statement I see online. There are usually days between my withdrawal and being credited. But next time I will check immediately upon returning home, it might appear instantly on my visa statement and take days to be credited from my account.

[Up2U]

Yes I do. By bank statement I mean the statement I see online. There are usually days between my withdrawal and being credited. But next time I will check immediately upon returning home, it might appear instantly on my visa statement and take days to be credited from my account.

Just like Francois, I see my transactions post almost immediately on-line. I can make an ATM withdrawal, login to my banking website on my mobile phone and watch the transaction post, all within a minute.

[Couple]

As a merchant, you will know, VISA and Mastercard do not require either, AVS or CVV checks to pass in order to let the payment through. All they require is the CC# and expiry date. Your bank / payment processor might, but VISA and MC in and of themselves do not. The AVS & CVV checks are there as guides for merchants, but are not restrictions.

Yeah, Canada doesn't offer the 2 CC# thing either, and I don't know why, as loads of countries do. I know for sure Hungary, Czech Republic, Malta, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia all offer it, because I've had cards from all those countries before. Not sure why places like the UK and Canada don't offer it. It's such a simple and effective solution to such a widespread problem.

Weird you had that as none of my three Indonesian credit cards have it and two of them are just renewed this month.
Sounds like a safer system I would like to have. Which banks were you cards issued by?