Mine was used at a gas station in Canada, go figure.

We must frequent different areas of the city because 95% of the pumps I have used (mostly Esso) are Chip and PIN enabled. Some won't even allow a mag-stripe only card anymore to be used at the pump.

For the US zip code issue, my CIBC Visa does not accept any zip code. My Amex works with the 3 numbers from my post code + 00, so I think it really depends on whatever code your bank returns for the verification, and if the pump decides to accept it or not.

I've also been to some pumps in the US where there are clear signs that a zip code entry is required, I've seen other people being prompted for a zip code, but for my card it bypasses the prompt (likely reads the issuer country on the card)

Another random thought on this. I've been to a small handful of gas stations where my PR (US) cards have not worked at the pump, and the clerk inside refuses to let me prepay with a credit card. They've all been in Florida, so maybe the same franchisee owns them and has that ridiculous policy.

So how does my entering a fake zip code for my foreign credit card and then being allowed to complete the purchase prevent fraud?

As clearly stated many times in this thread, many foreign cards do not have to have a valid zip code. The merchant and the merchant account have made the decision to accept foreign cards without validating their zip code instead of not accepting foreign cards at all.

However, if you do not have a foreign card, you need to enter a zip code which is validated. If the zip code does not match and they have exact validation turned on, then the card will be refused. As the chance of foreign cards being used for serial fraud is very low (the issuing bank software would catch that in no time), not validating those cards is an acceptable risk to many merchants.

that's how it prevents fraud.

As long as you thievin' Canucks realize that, if you attempt to flee a US gas station without paying, you risk being targeted by one of those TSA drones likely to terminate your bad habits by launching a modest ASM right up your tailpipe. There is an exception to the new program, however. If your gas purchase from which you flee without paying is for $25 or less (obviously a very small hybrid car), VISA, MC, DisCobra, and AMEX have agreed that the TSA drones should employ their alternate payload, the Mark 37 Steerable Paint Bomb, which cloaks you auto in a bath of indelible Day-Glo Orange, so that the next constable down the road can stop you, confiscate your vehicle under the organized crime statutes, throw you in the calaboose for an extended period, and force your wife and daughters to become pole dancers to support themselves during your confinement.

That's patently absurd.

The wife and daughters wouldn't be "forced" to become pole dancers; they'd be given the choice to "voluntarily surrender their dignity" or be slapped with an $11,000 administrative fine for interfering with the fraud recovery process.

Most of the fraud is on local cards. Allowing fake zip codes on foreign cards doesn't mean fake zip codes are allowed on local cards.

Good to hear we "foreigners" are more honest than the locals!

As an aside, all our credit cards have chip and pin. While travelling in the UK, we found that the ATM machines accepted our pin, whereas we always had to sign for purchases in supermarkets, shops, petrol stations etc. One local pub chain did not accept our "foreign" cards at all and we had to pay cash.

It has nothing to do with being more honest. It's just the thieves will have few foreign cards to try and they likely won't know it's a foreign card that will accept any zip anyway.

It was a joke! Didn't you see the winking smiley?

Buy GC, call enter zip code,,,use at pump, if ask enter zip code you made up...

No problem..

I lived in Dubai for a while (which has no zip/postal codes). Upon returning to the US I had the same sort of zip issues. One night at WalMart I was asked for my zip code to use an Amex and it seems I could not buy something without it.

Petrocan and Esso require it. I use one of those Esso Speedpasses to get around the whole problem since I am not keen at standing at -15C punching numbers into a gas pump screen.

* Because statistically, that's close enough to a correct assumption that it doesn't make sense to invest in more elegant technological solutions. Almost 100% of their business is from Americans. The manual workarounds are good enough for border towns, stations near international airport rental car facilities, etc.
* To be honest, they don't particularly care, but they always will sell you gas. They can almost always scan your card inside, pre-authorize for $75 or $100, and enable your pump. (I've never had them ask for a pile of cash when I've had to do this.)
* No one. Nothing really to be angry about... Really???
* The machines are nearing ubiquity, although I've noticed that there are a lot that will ask my ZIP Code for Amex but not Visa/MC.
* Lots of good advice in this thread...I'd always heard 00000 worked.
* Don't know...

Americans run into this exact situation in other parts of the world where Chip & PIN is the standard. Train station kiosks are a prime example. Some stations have a guy who will sell you a ticket manually, some don't. At least most major gas station chains are open 24 hours a day with someone available to process your card manually.