A shameless thief has demonstrated the risk of losing a contactless bank card by filming herself going on a spending spree with a card she found in the street.
Anyone who claims they don't enjoy the convenience of being able to buy a pint by simply tapping their plastic on a little box is clearly lying. However, that ease of use comes at a price.
Contactless cards do come with a £30 limit for single purchases but, as the clip above demonstrates, that limit isn't going to do much good if the person who finds your card decides to go shopping at several locations, without going over the threshold.
The clips were posted to Instagram by an unidentified woman who claimed to have found the card while out and about in Brixton, South London.
Over the course of the day, the woman treated herself to food, water and a Nike tracksuit. She even bought a McDonald's meal and a drink for a homeless person at one point, saying: "Bad deed for a good deed innit."
Later on, the woman can be heard saying: "So this morning I found a square, spent all the money off of it.
"Now, just don't lose the contactless cards guys. You have been warned. I am about."
The news comes as statistics reveal contactless card fraud has eclipsed cheque fraud for the first time ever.
"Figures released by UK Finance show money lost to fraud on contactless payments surged to £5.6m in the first six months of 2017, overtaking the £5.3m lost from cheque fraud.
However, although those numbers seem high, it should be noted that contactless fraud still only accounts for around 1.9 percent of all card-based fraud.
People who fall victim to this type of crime are also very likely to have their money reimbursed by the bank.
A UK Finance spokesperson told Which?: "Contactless fraud is low, with robust security features in place in every card. At the same time, customers are fully protected against card fraud and will never be left out of pocket, unlike if they lose cash."
Featured Image Credit: InstagramTopics: crime, Community, UK, Fraud