Inventors are working out ever more ingenious ways to protect consumers from credit card fraud, a trawl of the US Patent Office reveals.
By the time unusual purchase patterns alert a bank to the fact that your card has been cloned, it is too late. Connecticut chip maker ATMI’s answer, in US patent application 2004/0174749, is to stop crooks getting data out of cards in the first place.
Often, says ATMI, a fraudster will merely “borrow” your card from you for a few moments without your knowledge. To extract the data, the crook’s card reader shines intense UV light on…
