Yesterday I arrived home to find I had a package from the Bank. I opened it up and inside I found a funny looking calculator.

Now the instructions say that every time you want to pay money from your account in to some one else’s or set up direct debits etc I need to use this device. It doesn’t communicate with the PC in anyway it just generates a number you need to give to the bank when you make certain transactions.

Maybe I’m wrong but I assume it takes your card details runs some kind of algorithm and generates a number every time. And maybe I’m wrong about this but I assume my bank hasn’t produced a different device, running a different algorithm for every customer!

So surely if I was a fraudster, and I have your Details I just need to know the algorithm on these devices and it makes the whole idea of the device pretty pointless. People who steal from Bank accounts do it for a living and this is in my view a very little hurdle for them to jump.

My opinion is that the Banks have decided to distribute these almost in a way that resembles ignorant Propaganda saying this will solve threats to your account merely for them to look good. They know Joe public will say:
“Isn’t it good, my bank sent me a little calculator thing and now my account is safe (yeah right), my bank are so thoughtful they must really be looking out for their customers”.

Surely the money for devising this scheme could have been better spent on being more proactive when it comes to threats to their customers rather than releasing a Gimmick.