Petrol giant Shell has suspended chip-and-pin payments in 600 UK petrol stations after more than £1m was siphoned out of customers’ accounts.

Eight people, including one from Guildford, Surrey and another from Portsmouth, Hants, have been arrested in connection with the fraud inquiry.

The Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) said the fraud related to just one petrol chain.

Shell said it hoped to reintroduce chip-and-pin as soon as possible.

Plastic crime
The racket is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police cheque and plastic crime unit.

“These Pin pads are supposed to be tamper resistant, they are supposed to shut down, so that has obviously failed,” said Apacs spokeswoman Sandra Quinn.

She said Apacs was confident the problem was specific to Shell and not a systemic issue.

A Shell spokeswoman said: “Shell’s Chip & PIN solution is fully accredited and complies with all relevant industry standards.

Chip and pin cards are designed to prevent fraud

“We have temporarily suspended chip and pin availability in our UK company-owned service stations.

“This is a precautionary measure to protect the security of our customers’ transactions.
“You can still pay for your fuel, goods or services with your card by swipe and signature.
“We will reintroduce chip and pin as soon as it is possible, following consultation with the terminal manufacturer, card companies and the relevant authorities.”

Shell has nearly 1,000 outlets in the UK, 400 of which are run by franchisees who will continue to use chip-and-pin.

BP is also looking into card fraud at petrol stations in Worcestershire but it is not known if this is connected to chip-and-pin.[…]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4980190.stm

And of course, the braind dead imbecile ‘journalist’ who wrote this did not relate it to ID cards, which is the logical extrapolation. Let us now, BLOGDIAL style, recast it from the future:

The National Identity Authority has suspended the NIR after more than 1m identities were compromised and personal details were siphoned out of citizen’s accounts.

Eight people, including one from Guildford, Surrey and another from Portsmouth, Hants, have been arrested in connection with the hacking inquiry.

The NIR said the fraud related to a petrol chain, where the NIR terminals had been subjected to a networked hack.

The NIR said it hoped to reintroduce the Identity verification service as soon as possible.

Plastic crime
The racket is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police ID and plastic crime unit.

“These NIR terminals are supposed to be tamper resistant, they are supposed to shut down, so that has obviously failed,” said NIR spokeswoman Sandra Quinn.

She said the National Identity Authority was confident the problem was specific to Shell and not a systemic issue.

A Shell spokeswoman said: “Shell’s NIR solution is fully accredited and complies with all relevant government standards.

ID cards are designed to prevent fraud

“We have temporarily suspended NIR availability to prevent further compromise of personal information.

“This is a precautionary measure to protect the security of our citizens data.
“You can show your card for level three verification of your identity to buy fuel, goods or services with your card by swipe and signature.

“We will reintroduce full NIR service as soon as it is possible, following consultation with the terminal manufacturer, card companies and the system administrators.”

Shell has nearly 1,000 outlets in the UK, 400 of which are run by franchisees.

BP is also looking into NIR hacking at petrol stations in Worcestershire but it is not known if this is connected to the Shell hack.

heh… ‘Shell hack’!!

And there you have it. This WILL happen if the NIR is rolled out, and your data WILL be compromised if you join it.

Do not register for the NIR under any circumstances. There. I said it again.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 7th, 2006 at 9:19 am and is filed under NIR.