WHEN SEEING SHOULD NOT BE BELIEVING - PHOTOGRAPHS, CREDIT CARDS AND FRAUD

Identity cards often include a photograph of the bearer in an attempt to prevent fraudulent use or personation. In the U.K. some credit card companies have recently introduced photo-credit cards and the governm ent is currently considering the introduction of a new driving licence including the bearer's photograph. However, the widely held belief th at the inclusion of photographs will reduce or prevent fraudulent use has never been tested. This paper describes a field study designed to examine the utility of photo-credit cards by assessing the accuracy wi th which supermarket cashiers could identify whether the photographs o n credit cards depicted the person tendering them. The results demonst rate that the task of matching the photograph to the shopper is much m ore difficult than might be expected, and that even under optimized co nditions, performance is poor. It is concluded that the introduction o f photographs on credit cards would have little effect on the detectio n of fraud at the point of sale. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.