Originally Posted by
EUnomad
If you're not interested in taking some risk, then you might consider getting a USD EMV card issued in the UK, where the laws have been updated so that banks must prove authenticity of a transaction beyond simply stating that the PIN was entered.
Even under chip and sign, HK's also going that way.
We already don't need to sign slips at larger merchants for Visa txn < HK$196 (US$25) and Amex txn < HK$500 (US$64).
If we dispute unauthorised transaction, we're obliged to file police report (HK Police allows us to do this online, false report is offence under HK law) and send it back to card issuer. If no-sign slip txn, that's the end of it (issuer refunds). If slip is signed, then the dispute gets resolved like a forged cheque allegation.
At least for local unauth txn...I'm not too sure how to obtain police reports for places where I've never been but have been charged from. But for overseas unauth txn, we can obtain our entry/exit records fror the HK immigration dept under personal data access laws, and we can use those to prove we never left the HKSAR where the alleged overseas card present transaction has occurred (and if we still have our card then that means the card has been cloned).
If HK moves from chip and sign to chip and PIN, the latter will be unaffected, but I'm just thinking about the former. I'm wondering how HK banks will treat unauth txn with a properly key-in PIN, versus the current no PIN/sign arrangement. Will police report still be able to override the proper PIN?