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With information retrieved from unsuspecting card users, the skimmers have apparently made off with at least $20,000 -- not a bad haul for what was a very low-risk crime.

This leaves me wondering whether we're outsmarting ourselves with technology and the alleged security that goes with it.

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In the good old days, a robber had to front up to the bank counter and demand money from a teller. To affect a speedier and more reliable outcome, such demands were usually accompanied by threats of violence and perhaps even the presenting of a weapon.

The risks associated with such robberies were very high however. The robber either had to wear an attention-grabbing face-mask or (s)he could be seen, possibly identified, by customers and staff.

What's more, the amount of cash likely to be scored in such a daring raid was usually no more than a few thousand in cash.

By comparison, today's hi-tech criminal can organise and conduct a heist from the comfort of his living room, using nothing more threatening than a cordless mouse and modem.

Back in "the olden days" (tm), robberies used to make headlines, mainly due to their rarity and the level of bravery/stupidity required to take such enormous risks.

Fortunately, bank robberies, muggings and the theft of valuable negotiable documents was a very small problem and few of us ever had to face the prospect of being robbed.

My, how things have changed -- despite, or maybe because of, technology.

Everyone who has an EFTPOS or credit card runs the risk of being robbed every time they use that card and in the last year alone, thousands of Kiwis have become the victim of such crimes.

If you use internet banking then you better be sure that your PC doesn't have any undetected trojans lurking in its bowels. Likewise, you need to be very careful not to fall for one of the many phishing schemes that pop up on an almost daily basis.

Physically use your card and you run the risk of skimming -- or even someone just copying down the number, expiry date and authentication code from that bit of plastic then using it online or through a mail-order supplier.

Of course we're told that passwords and PIN numbers will protect our valuable savings and credit -- so how come it's now safer and easier for crims to steal our money than ever before?

Even worse, in those "olden days" we only had to worry about local crims trying to part us from our cash. These days it's far more likely that the person raiding your bank account is half a world away in one of the former soviet states or some part of Asia. Suddenly we're overwhelmed with crims, all trying to get their hands on our loot.

Maybe biometrics are the answer -- but somehow I don't think so.

It would appear that, when it comes to protecting our cash, the smarter we get the dumber we actually are.

How can we harden ourselves against today's new generation of armchair bank-robbers?

Are banks doing enough to protect us from the inconvenience of having our bank accounts raided?

Should a 70-year-old with their life's savings just a password away from theft be expected to fully understand the intricacies and implications of email-based phishing schemes?

Why isn't modern technology reducing the incidence of bank robbery rather than simply making it easier for the crims?

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

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