secret codes to avoid according to an expert

France is one of the countries of the European Union where bank fraud is the most widespread. According a report from the Observatory for Security and Means of Payment, fraud in non-cash means of payment would have been 592 million euros for 3.6 million fraudulent transactions in the first half of 2022.

Criminals always find a way to stay one step ahead of their victims and arm themselves with advanced tools to violate your privacy and steal from you. Fake calls and SMS claiming an emergency, phishing by email, hacking your screens, from your smartphone or your credit card…: nothing escapes them!

Hacked bank card: the secret codes to banish

As the relate our colleagues from Marie-France, Nick Berry, a data scientist working for the Meta group has identified the codes that are easiest for thieves to find. The codes to ban are the ones that are the easiest to find. If your secret code is part of the following code list, you must change it very quickly!

The codes are: 1234; 1111; 0000; 1212; 7777; 1004; 2000; 4444; 2222 and finally 6969.

Credit card secret code: how to protect yourself?

In recent years, banking institutions have implemented double authentication in order to protect their customers and their transactions. This payment security standard, called DSP2, has applied to online purchases from 30 euros since May 15, 2021.

It was passed by the European Parliament and helps to fight against credit card fraud, which has become more and more frequent since the development of e-commerce. This “strong authentication” system protects merchants and reassures customers.

When paying for your purchase on the Internet, you must show your credentials and provide two of the following three identification elements:

• a password or numeric code (known as an element of knowledge)
• your mobile number or telephone line (said element of possession)
• your fingerprint or face or the sound of your voice (known as an inherent element)

The France Num portal remember that the banks ask their customers to download the mobile application which integrates the strong authentication service (named SécuriPass, Certicode Plus or even Digital Key depending on the establishment) on their smartphone, which makes it possible to combine an element of possession (the phone) with an element of knowledge (a code) or inherence (his fingerprint).

When paying for a purchase, you receive a notification directing you to the application of your bank. You are prompted to enter your password or biometric fingerprint to validate the payment.

If you do not have a smartphone or do not wish to use the application made available by your bank, alternative solutions without additional cost must be offered by the banks:

• sending a single-use SMS coupled with a password known to you;
• provision of a dedicated physical device such as a bank card reader.