You Get What You Pay For...But It Can Cost You!

In a post we did last May 1st we talked about the lawsuit brought by Alain Job against Halifax over Chip and PIN Security.  His attorney, Stephen Mason took on the case and represented Job "pro bono", hence the title of the blog post.  Well, they said a decision was expected in about a month, and it's in.  Finextra reports, but first a quick review of the case from the PIN Payments Blog:

FreeMason Job: Chip-and-PIN On Trial

'Phantom' withdrawal case concludes in U.K. court



A Halifax bank defends chip-and-PIN, while the plaintiff argues his cash card could have been cloned.  A one-day trial that raises questions about the security of cash cards used in the U.K. and Europe concluded Thursday, with a decision expected in about a month.


Alain Job sued U.K. bank Halifax in March 2007 over eight withdrawals made from his account in February 2006. Job maintains he did not withdraw a cumulative £2,100 ($3,100). He also maintains he did not authorize anyone else to withdraw the money .

Job decided to sue after the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which mediates disputes between banks and customers, sided with Halifax.

Finextra: Court sides with Halifax in Chip and PIN clone case

A UK judge has ruled in favour of high street bank Halifax in the country's first ever phantom withdrawal lawsuit.

The case was brought by a customer who claimed that fraudsters cloned his chip-based card and withdrew £2100 from his account at ATMs.  The judge based his ruling on printouts from log files to show that Job's real card had been used for the transactions.

The suit was filed after two critical pieces of evidence once held by Halifax were destroyed, including the original ATM card and the Authorisation Request Cryptogram that could have proven that the card's chip had been read and authenticated by the machine. The plaintiff Alain Job says he is studying the judgment before deciding whether to appeal the ruling.

Halifax, Chip and PIN, Alain Job, Stephen Mason