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Payment card insertion declines further, in favour of contactless payments

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In the past 12 months, the number of payments where payment cards are inserted into ATMs fell by 125 million compared to a year earlier. The number of contactless payments, using a debit card or smartphone, increased by 308 million over the same period. Last month, 93% of all debit card payments were contactless; up from 90% a year earlier.

Hand houdt een betaalpas tegen een betaalterminal voor een contactloze pinbetaling op een toonbank, met bordje ‘Pinnen ja graag’ zichtbaar.

Contactless safe from fraud by ‘shouldering’

Cardholders seem increasingly confident in contactless payments, even for large amounts. Thanks to contactless payments, there are fewer victims of so-called ‘shouldering’. With ‘shouldering’, a fraudster secretly looks over the shoulder of his victim to check the PIN number when the victim types it in at the cash register or at an ATM. The fraudster then tries to roll the victim’s debit card or use a chat or switch trick to steal it.

When inserting a debit card, the cardholder must always enter his PIN code, regardless of the amount. With contactless payment, for amounts up to €50, this is usually not necessary. As a result, with contactless payment, there is less opportunity for fraudsters to secretly check a PIN. Those who pay contactless with a smartphone usually do not use a PIN code at all but approve their payments with a fingerprint or facial recognition.

May was busiest PIN month ever

The busiest PIN month ever was last May, with over 506 million PIN payments, for €13.1 billion. The previous record month was June 2023, with 504 million debit card payments.

For more monthly PIN figures, visit PIN.NL…

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