N.B. woman warns about risk of 'tap' feature after someone went on shopping spree with her debit card

New Brunswick resident Layka Shay says the theft of her debit card for one hour cost her hundreds of dollars.

She left her belongings in an unlocked locker at a civic centre and by the time she noticed her wallet was missing, it was too late.

“I got onto my phone and locked it but I noticed all these charges. They went to Cannabis NB, they went to Tim Hortons, they went to Shoppers, they went to the liquor store and I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ So I called my bank and they told me there wasn’t anything they could do for me because if it was on my credit card, it’s insured, but my debit card wasn’t. I was in a panic,” she said.

She called the police who, after eight months, said there was nothing they could do about it.

“I was out about $800 and some dollars and I never recouped it and it was really devastating,” she said.

Shay disabled the tap option on the debit card following the incident and she rarely uses the card at all these days.

“I just don’t feel that it’s worth the risk. It’s one of those things that you don’t think it’s going to happen to you until it happens and then you’re left to pick up the pieces,” she said. “I have tap on my phone now but there’s a passcode that you put in before you can use it so it feels a lot more safer that way.”

Nowadays, tapping your card is a quick and convenient option, until it isn’t.

“The ease and ability of tap is lovely when you’re in a rush and that, but you never know what might happen down the road if you accidently leave your card laying around somewhere or you misplace it somewhere. Somebody can grab that card and just go crazy with it and it’s just not safe these days. You have to protect yourself,” said Carol-Ann LaRonde.

She uses tap on her cards, but made sure to set her daily limit to something she was comfortable with losing if it ever happened.

“Whenever I signed up with my bank account through Scotiabank, they suggested that I do $100 and I was like, ‘No, that’s way too much, I’d rather just do $20 just in case if I’m going through the drive-thru for coffee or just sneaking into the corner store for some treats,’” she said.

BDO Debt Solutions senior manager Robert Johnson says he’s been the victim to credit card fraud and says a card doesn’t even have to be lost or stolen to be compromised.

“I also suggest the use of RFID blocking wallets or card sleeves to block unauthorized scanning of your cards because I myself have actually been a victim of that where I actually had three Visas and a MasterCard unfortunately the numbers taken away from me,” he said. “It was 24 hours after essentially when we pinpointed when it happened and it was the bank that determined it was essentially a theft.”

He says everyone should be reporting lost or stolen cards immediately so that it can prevent any unauthorized activity.

Johnson notes fraud isn’t the only concern. The freedom of tap makes it easy for consumers to overspend without even realizing it.

“Tap payments make it so easy and make spending fast and effortless, which essentially contributes to overspending for some people due to ease of use,” he said. “As the simplicity of tapping removes the mindfulness, so we kind of forget as to what we’re doing and money loses its tangible feel that we used to have a couple of decades ago.”

He says small, frequent transactions add up and impulse purchases can become more common as well.

“With the way technology has kind of taken over in the last decade and seems to be accelerating, they’re making it easier and easier for us to spend our money,” he said. “They’re taking away a lot of the barriers of our instinctual limits or protection of overspending because again we’re no longer carrying cash and we no longer have the visual. It’s actually disappeared so unless you’re actively tracking, it will get ahead of you.”

Those with lived experience say it doesn’t mean removing tap from your cards or being scared to carry them, but instead being aware of the risks and taking steps to protect yourself.

Some tips include:

• checking your tap limits and setting them for an amount that you are comfortable with
• setting up text notifications for every transaction so you can be aware in real time what is happening
• setting and sticking to a strong budget
• being aware of what’s going on within your bank account and where your cards are

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