Smart technology credit card

[futurehomeowner?]

Our local news just did a story on this credit card that changes its number at every use. Maybe this is old news but I thought it was pretty neat.

 

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/01/30/local-company-creates-smart-credit-card/

[moadikum]

Seems very impractical. Would make much more sense to have a proxy number (much like smart chip cards) that then corresponds to a real number AFTER it's sent to the card processor.

[cashnocredit]

The main fraud problem with cards is that the data is stolen from the card's magnetic strip when it is swiped. Most compromises are in the databases at large retailers and can be in the tens of millions of cards. Fraudsters sell the card info digitally to smaller cells of criminals who then make cloned cards, go into stores, and buy stuff easily converted to cash. This card the OP links to does nothing to protect that kind of fraud. It would protect against physically stolen cards, lost wallets, and such but that is a much smaller part of the problem.

 

Most of the rest of the world uses EMV chipped cards and readers and those chips cannot be cloned and intercepting the transaction data provides nothing to create new cards with. That will be the next step for the US.

 

As an aside, the card shown would not function with EMV chips. It is suitable only for a card design soon to be completely obsolete.