Don’t make it easier for criminals by being an idiot

Criminals are out there trying to rob you - why should you make it any easier for them?

By Conor Hogan

The website MyVoucherCode.co.uk found in a recent study that nearly 20 per cent of people alter their credit card and debit card PIN so that it has the same numbers as their birthday. Yes, that’s right, 20 per cent of people are actually that stupid. Fair enough, if you want an easy number to remember, but your birthday?

If your credit card is stolen it will probably be in your wallet which will also possibly contain your driver’s license. And what is contained in your driver’s license? Your birth date! Your wallet might also have your passport, or an age card or something else with those numbers on it. If you were a criminal, what would be the first number you would try?

The odds of guessing a four digit PIN where the numbers are randomly selected are 10,000/1, so you are making it nearly 2000 times easier for the criminal. As well as that, nearly half of people surveyed said that they used the same PIN for all of their cards. This isn’t quite as bad, but it is still pretty dumb. If the criminal manages to figure out the numbers, they can basically steal all your money from everywhere.

If you use the same numbers for all your cards and it is your birth date, then you pretty much deserve to be robbed. You might as well wear your credit card like a chain around your neck and write ‘please rob me’ with permanent marker on your forehead.

Wallet wally

Nearly a sixth of people write the number of their PIN on a piece of paper which they keep in their wallet, which kind of defeats the point of having one – don’t you think?

Nearly 20 per cent of people have the number saved in their phone, while three per cent of people have shared their PIN with their work colleagues. Don’t share your PIN with anybody. Not even your wife. Sure, you might love her now, but what if you get divorced and she spitefully steals all your money?

A couple of tips will help you. Don’t bin your bank statements as people might root through your waste, shred them. It would also be a good idea to keep fake PINs in your wallet, as if the criminal uses them three times it will lock the card. A reader on the website lovemoney.com tried out this tactic and it worked for them.

"I had my wallet stolen and was glad I had written the codes down.," they said, "WHY? Because they were seven four number sequences made to look like ATM codes (I had seven cards in there - not all money cards but all needing codes).

“The thief obligingly tried the codes in an ATM and the cards were all retained.  Okay I lost £20 in cash, but the cards could not be used.  So write down some random number to look like codes and keep them in your wallet."