Rude to hide your bank PIN?

[gogoblender 3,070]

omgod, lol I almost laughed out loud when this was happening... at Mcdonald's last night, and the crowd was pretty big in line, pressed up rather close to the front. I was entering my pin number for my credit card to buy my burger and ...well, this always happens to me... how much should I really try to "hide" the pin?

 

Do I shield it surreptitiously with a hand, or try to make a big wall with my palm?

 

... turn the machine away from prying eyes while making sure my back hides EVERYTHING?

 

Last night I was using just a few fingers to do this, I was feeling shy ...and someone gave me a dirty look! As...as if I had convicted them of being a criminal...when all I wanted to do was protect my pin!

 

I almost wish for signatures to come back, it's almost getting to be impossible to hide the number properly!

 

 

gogo

[lujate 578]

Rude? Absolutely not. A little paranoid maybe, but a little paranoia is often a good thing.

[Stormwing 40]

Indeed. If someone would criticize me about that I'd give them a piece of mind. That's one of the absolutely private things. And who knows just who might see the number if it gets really unlucky.

[Delta! 987]

I'm the only person who knows my pin, and my Father is the only other person who has any access to my account, since my account is linked to his, so he can see everything that happens and goes on...

but back to the point, no it is absolutely not rude to hide your pin, if you have something bigger, like a bag, use that as well... OK maybe that is a teensy bit overboard, but like Lujate said, little paranoia is often a good thing.

 

Delta!

[locolagarto 15]

I usually am not that overt about guarding mine, but I do shield the keypad with my body and hit my 4 digit sequence very quickly, so as not to linger over the keypad very long.

 

Next time don't make eye contact with those around you and you wont feel bad about it after.

[chattius 2,526]

My wife uses to say: 'Stay away or I pay with the smallest possible coins I have with me!'. But normally the card reader keyboards are mounted in a way noone in queue can watch.

[cider_steve 26]

There are two solutions to this problem Gogo :-

 

A). Ask everyone close by, in a nice loud and clear voice, to kindly close thier eyes until you have completed the transaction. (to which I'm sure you will receive a warm and friendly acceptance)

 

C). Use cash, especially if yer only buying a burger mate ! I once had this young girl infront of me at the till who only wanted a 35p piece of chewing gum. She tried paying for it with a card and couldn't remember her pin ! I gave her the cash to get rid of her as I was in a hurry. *shrugs*

 

I hope that the burger was worth the stress ?

 

...............oh, and incase you are wondering, I couldn't use B). as I had already said that there were only two options.

 

Byebye,

 

Steve.

[wolfie2kX 528]

omgod, lol I almost laughed out loud when this was happening... at Mcdonald's last night, and the crowd was pretty big in line, pressed up rather close to the front. I was entering my pin number for my credit card to buy my burger and ...well, this always happens to me... how much should I really try to "hide" the pin?

 

Do I shield it surreptitiously with a hand, or try to make a big wall with my palm?

 

... turn the machine away from prying eyes while making sure my back hides EVERYTHING?

 

Last night I was using just a few fingers to do this, I was feeling shy ...and someone gave me a dirty look! As...as if I had convicted them of being a criminal...when all I wanted to do was protect my pin!

 

I almost wish for signatures to come back, it's almost getting to be impossible to hide the number properly!

 

 

gogo

 

Ya know.. I've had this happen to me once before. (The bit with someone giving me dirty looks and a ration of feces for hiding the pad while I punched in my PIN.) I actually got angry with the woman and told her off.

 

Basically, A number of years back, I bought some gas at a gas station and shortly afterwards, I got a call from my bank who told me that my account got wiped out by someone. It seems they were able to trace the breach in security to that one gas station. They didn't say as much, but it was the ONLY place that I went to that accepts only Debit but not Credit. Everywhere else I've been to is more flexible and does both.

 

I basically told the woman later on that I really didn't give a flying fig about her or her feelings about it all - but I'll be damned if I was going to let ANYONE have at my money again. She was quite embarrassed about it all afterwards. She even acknowledged I was right to hide the PIN pad while I was entering my info.

 

The simple fact is, after having gone thru this before - I'm here to tell you - it's a major hassle. You have to go to the bank, change your account - all while you're cut off from your funds. That means new checks, a new card, a new PIN. Yes, they give you a book of fake checks - but not too many places like taking them. It took like a week and a half to get my situation sorted out. NOT fun if you need to buy something - like gas or food.

 

It may be even more of a PITA in different countries. That would depend on banking laws and how things work in your neck of the woods.

 

So.. If you ask me - I don't think it's rude to hide the PIN pad while you enter your PIN. Eff them if they don't like you doing that. It's your money - NOT theirs. Best safe than sorry. In THIS day and age, it's up to YOU to take responsibility for yourself and your funds.

 

A simple solution - that should be fairly handy... You have your wallet out (unless you keep your debit/credit card elsewhere), you can use that to shield the pad while you type.

[gogoblender 3,070]

hey guys, heh, thanks loads for the support. You've inspired me to buckle up and just plain ole not care and hide it survive! Actually, I few weeks back my card got "flagged", I think just like you said Wolfie, that I used it in a high "attention" place...because of that they froze my card. I hardly ever use my bank card or cash, mostly my credit card (burgers, chocolate bars, u name it! ).

 

It's because of the few times that I do use my card and it's been refused that I'm kind of upset about this and that dude at Mcdonalds with the scowl kind of set me off. lol, Loco, I think I like your suggestion... dont make eye contact, that can be easier for me to do if I just don't "know" what's going on around me.

 

Wolfie, I know that hassle, but my bank offered me something neat, different... they said that even though my original functionality on my bank card was cancelled...they said THEY could reset... so they opened up a kind of two hour portal on my card... during that time (dangerous if I lose it!) I can take the card to one of my bank's machines, type in the number they give me as default and change it to my own. I found that to be convenient...never knew we could do that before, and I'm only a few minutes walk away from my bank!

 

Now here's something I found interesting... is there kind of a social "thing " going on when someone in front of us is punching in their number... does, all of a sudden, everyone turn their attention away to somewhere else... or re we supposed to do this? This a new social "dance" that has arisen because of our need to punch in numbers for our cards on the machine?

 

 

gogo

 

p.s. Cider, I heard ya on the cash, but using Credit Cards with cash back...I'm so addicted to it! The percentage I get back on all my purchases makes me actually hunt and ferret out any and all places that allow the smallest transactions while paying me to use my credit card to pay them

[chattius 2,526]

To be really on the save side you should ask a person from McD to remove the card reader keypad and show you that it is no faked one, then search for spy cams.... In germany we have lot of trouble with criminal bands from eastern europe manipulating money automat at banks and thinks like this:

 

 

Faked card reader which is put in front of thr original

 

Very thin faked keyboard placed above the original one....

 

My oldest daughter says she says at a card reader to the person behind her: nothing personal, but I have a paranoid dad who is afraid of hidden spy cams, faked readers, ... And I will do a little look at the reader first and hide the typing.

 

normally people are not angry then but rethink their own security measures

 

It is a war and we pure customers are in the nowhereland between the trench of the banks and the trench of the criminal bands

[gogoblender 3,070]

 

 

It is a war and we pure customers are in the nowhereland between the trench of the banks and the trench of the criminal bands

 

 

heh, couldn't have said it better. War. And yeah, it's become that every time I have to make a purchase with the punching in of numbers. I don't know if I have the kahunas to ask them to show me if the machine's not got an illegal reader or not, but this does make me want to check my billing online daily to make sure there's no extra charges

 

but...my god that eastern spy cam is frighteningly small!

 

That's a very polite way she has of making others in line around here feel better about her actions... course it makes them think of the dad huh ^^

 

 

gogo

[wolfie2kX 528]

 

 

It is a war and we pure customers are in the nowhereland between the trench of the banks and the trench of the criminal bands

 

 

heh, couldn't have said it better. War. And yeah, it's become that every time I have to make a purchase with the punching in of numbers. I don't know if I have the kahunas to ask them to show me if the machine's not got an illegal reader or not, but this does make me want to check my billing online daily to make sure there's no extra charges

 

but...my god that eastern spy cam is frighteningly small!

 

That's a very polite way she has of making others in line around here feel better about her actions... course it makes them think of the dad huh ^^

 

 

gogo

 

I wouldn't say it's trench warfare. Trench warfare was one massive stalemate for years on end. Only when the British came up with the tank did the stalemate get broken.

 

This is more a war with escalation of the sort where the bad guys use a new, sophisticated attack, then the banks find a counter to that threat while the bad guys look for more intricate means to deprive you of your funds.

[masteff 64]

I got mad a few weeks ago at the ATM inside the convenience store. A woman was rudely standing where she could see the screen and when I got an error screen she then tried to tell me what I was doing wrong.

 

I often want to tell people to not "shoulder surf" and very often use my body or hand to block the key pad.

 

Heck, Gogo, it should have been you giving the other person a nasty glare, like "quit trying to steal my info", not the other way around!!

[Lord of the North 10]

I only use my cards as a last resort.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Lord of the North

[Knuckles 904]

I got mad a few weeks ago at the ATM inside the convenience store. A woman was rudely standing where she could see the screen and when I got an error screen she then tried to tell me what I was doing wrong.

 

I often want to tell people to not "shoulder surf" and very often use my body or hand to block the key pad.

 

Heck, Gogo, it should have been you giving the other person a nasty glare, like "quit trying to steal my info", not the other way around!

 

If there is one thing I hate more than someone being nosy....it's getting unsolicited advice....luckily I'm big enough to where someone would have be very obvious if they were trying to see my PIN....that and for some reason I'm told I look very intimidating so not too many say something after I look at them

 

Personally I don't worry if I appear to be rude...it's my privacy and that is far more important than worrying about upsetting someone I probably will never see again.

[ololcat 3]

Well, it is called Personal Identification Number for a reason. Standing real close to the terminal and fast input help the issue. But all those fake readers are the reason why I prefer cash.