On Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:32:46 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
Huh? So the money gets deducted before any validation is done?

No, the money is only deducted if the validation is successful.

The retailer's and the cardholder's account will be updated to indicate
a successful transaction; and a failed transaction will be flagged at an
online terminal (some milliseconds after the card has been removed). A
failed transaction at an offline terminal becomes a bad debt (for the
retailer/bank) and sorting that out is part of the swings and
roundabouts that permeates all card transactions (contactless or not).

So no potential for abuse then. No, not at all...

The only thing that I believe doesn't happen, because it's basically a
read-only device, is the card being updated to indicate whether the last
transaction succeeded or not.

That's not too hard to understand is it?

The only thing thats hard to understand is how such a bloody awful design
got past the white board stage. Still, with the kind of bussed in morons
involved in system design these days I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

B2003