By John Leyden for The
Register.
This article has been reproduced with permission.
Eight unnamed people have been arrested in the UK on suspicion
of involvement in the scam, the BBC reports.
The mechanism of the alleged fraud, which is being investigated
by the Metropolitan Police cheque and plastic crime unit, remains
unclear. The Association of Payment Clearing Services, the UK
banking organisation leading the introduction of Chip and PIN, said
that it was confident the problem applied only to Shell and did not
impact of the integrity of the payment method more generally.
Shell said the suspension of Chip and PIN in its UK-owned
service stations was a temporary precaution. It has reverted to
authorising debit and credit card purchases by signature at these
outlets. Around 400 Shell petrol stations run on a franchise, and
therefore not directly owned by Shell, are continuing to accept
Chip and PIN. Shell hopes to act quickly in order to reintroduce
the payment method across all its UK petrol stations.
"We will reintroduce chip-and-pin as soon as it is possible,
following consultation with the terminal manufacturer, card
companies and the relevant authorities," a Shell spokeswoman told
the BBC.
© The Register
2006
