Mastercard is dropping card numbers—here's why it could change the way you pay forever

Recent changes in the world of finance are about to shake up the way we handle payments—and it's not just a small tweak.

What was once considered the standard for card security is now being challenged by a move that could completely redefine your shopping experience.

This shift could have far-reaching implications, from the way we make everyday purchases to the very nature of our financial security.


Mastercard announced a plan to eliminate the 16-digit numbers from debit and credit cards by 2030 in a bid to fight identity theft and card fraud.

This change involves replacing the traditional card numbers with tokenisation and biometric authentication.

In 2022, Mastercard began offering biometric payment options, allowing transactions with a smile or a wave of the hand.


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New payment tech replaces credit card numbers. Image source: Pexel/Pixabay


Tokenisation converts the 16-digit card number into a unique token stored on a device, ensuring that card information is never shared when making payments.

AMP Bank will be the first to roll out these numberless cards, with other banks expected to follow within the next year.

In 2023 to 2024, card fraud in Australia reached $868 million, up from $677.5 million the previous year.

Fraudsters often gain access to card details through data breaches, putting consumers at risk.


Late in 2024, a significant data breach affected over 300 million customers worldwide, including from Marriott and Starwood Hotels.

Similarly, Ticketmaster’s breach exposed hundreds of millions of customers' personal and payment details.

Card-not-present fraud, which accounts for 92 per cent of card fraud in Australia, saw a 29 per cent rise in the last financial year.

The Card Verification Value (CVV) system was designed to ensure the person making a transaction physically held the card, but it has proven ineffective.

By removing the card number, Mastercard aims to stop fraudsters from processing unauthorised transactions.


This change also reduces the damage caused by data breaches, as sensitive information is no longer stored.

The 2022 Optus data breach exposed personal information from customers who held accounts back in 2018.

By eliminating the need for companies to store payment details, Mastercard aims to mitigate the risks of future breaches.

However, this shift to a tokenisation and biometric system raises some concerns, particularly for seniors and those with disabilities.

Many older consumers do not use mobile banking, potentially excluding them from the new protections.


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Concerns grow over technology shifts for seniors and the disabled. Image source: Pexel/Tima Miroshnichenko


While tokenisation strengthens security, it shifts the vulnerability to mobile phones and telecommunication providers.

Criminals already exploit phone-based attacks such as mobile porting and impersonation scams, and these risks could increase.

Biometric data, unlike card numbers, cannot be changed once exposed in a data breach.

This makes biometric data a prime target for attackers, raising concerns over the long-term implications of such data theft.

Biometric breaches, though less frequent, have occurred—such as the BioStar 2 breach in the UK, which exposed fingerprints and facial recognition data of over one million people.


In Australia, Outabox reportedly exposed the facial recognition data of over one million individuals.

With the rise of smartphone payments, the need for physical debit and credit cards has diminished.

In 2023, mobile wallet payments grew by 58 per cent, reaching $146.9 billion in Australia.

More than 44 per cent of payments were made via ‘device-present’ transactions in October 2024.


Amazon's 'Just-Walk-Out' technology, now used in over 70 stores, eliminates the need for physical cards by using cameras and sensors to process purchases.

This innovative technology has been adopted by various vendors, including Trigo, Cognizant, and Grabango, and is being tested by major retailers like Tesco and ALDI.

Even though 'Just-Walk-Out' technology removes the need to swipe or tap cards, consumers still need to enter card details into an app.

To fully eliminate the need for physical cards, smart retail tech providers are looking to biometric alternatives, such as facial recognition payments.

Given the rapid advancement of smart retail technology, it's likely that physical credit cards—numberless or not—will soon become obsolete.

Gary Mortimer noted that we might be heading towards a future without physical cards in Australia.


In a previous story, we explored how Australian banks are stepping up their security measures to combat credit card scams.

Wondering how these updates could further protect your finances? Find out here.

Key Takeaways

  • Mastercard plans to eliminate 16-digit card numbers by 2030, replacing them with tokenisation and biometric authentication to fight fraud.
  • This shift aims to prevent unauthorised transactions and reduce the impact of data breaches, though it raises concerns for seniors and those with disabilities who may not use digital banking.
  • The rise of mobile wallet payments and smart retail technologies like Amazon's 'Just-Walk-Out' suggest physical cards could soon become obsolete, with biometric payments on the horizon.
  • While tokenisation strengthens security, concerns over mobile phone vulnerabilities and the permanence of biometric data in case of breaches remain.

As technology continues to evolve, it’s clear that the way we pay could look vastly different in the near future.

With biometric security on the rise, will we see the end of physical cards altogether? Share your thoughts in the comments!
 

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all the clever tricks devised today are BY the banks FOR. the banks. The problem the banks are trying to solve today is....how can we make the public responsible for the fraud...the banks certainly dont want to pay, it HAS to be OUR fault
Yea, verily. It would seem never a truer word was spoken (and definitely not in jest!).
Wonder why we never see any abject apologies from the banks for the abysmal way they've handled our money?
 
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IF it works as advertised ...
Did you ever see a documentary on the cretiniser where some scamming outfit (I think it came out of India) taught their employees how to do it? They were sitting in a room, dozens of them, facing a bank of computer screens where phone numbers, computer info and personal details of their potential victims were displayed? I can't remember the name of the show, but I wish it would be run again to show people just how much information is out there for the benefit oif the scammongrels.
The scamming in India that I watched was on 60 Minutes. Part of the training appears to be treated brutally as well.



This is just a Sneak Peek on YouTube. I can’t seem to find the full segment from the show.
 
How many times were you scammed when you took your bank book into the bank to either deposit or withdraw??? How often were you scammed when you paid cash, or for larger items wrote a cheque? How often are people scammed these days. Now everything is on computers and anyone can help themselves. SO would someone please tell me how all this confusing carry on is better than what we had for years.
Agree
 
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Annoying we won't get any say at all, as always! Can't see how it'll improve things, only make it harder for us to access our own money i bet
 
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I think the banks just summarily dismiss our entire generation as not worth bothering about……after all, a lot of us might find it difficult to navigate in this digital age, so the banks just make it a bit harder…….scammers find it easier to scam certain age groups by playing on their vulnerabilities, so the banks won’t accept any responsibility, and don’t take any notice of suspicious activity or answer a call that could have helped the customer….Surely the very fact that the bank has our accounts makes them at least partly responsible for our money!! ….While I do have biometrics to access online shopping and banking I really don’t know how it would work in the world for everyone…..I think that giving us the choice would be a very good idea, involving their customers would go a long way in accepting big changes like this, because no one likes to be TOLD what’s going to happen so like it or lump it……….it seems they don’t care about the dissent they cause in their efforts to keep making profit exponentially, and although it would be counterproductive I would really love to see them come a cropper …..:devilish::giggle:
 
'member when, in the early days of computer use, we were promised easier, less complicated and faster ways of completing transactions, better ways to check how your money was handled at its destination, safeguards against fraudulent use of your accounts by people without access to your information, innovative ways to spend your money with more choice of goods, more leisure time to spend on ourselves, more opportunities for social contact ...
What went wrong?
Banks greed is what went wrong . They don’t want to handle money anymore citing it too expensive I say bollocks . They make a lot of money out of our money on their overnight money market before they pay anything on . Absolutely ridiculous and totally disgusted .
 
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The scamming in India that I watched was on 60 Minutes. Part of the training appears to be treated brutally as well.



This is just a Sneak Peek on YouTube. I can’t seem to find the full segment from the show.

Yes, that was it, I think. Thanks for that. Horrifying and scary. You'd think, in today's atmosphere, that the episode would be run again, if only to reinforce the dangers. But they wouldn't repeat it, I'm sure.
 
What charges will the banks add for using these methods? They already charge whenever we use our cards
Try ING Bank. Been with them for 26 years and never paid a cent for card useage. If there is a fee payable ING refund it to your account instaneously
 
This is an emotional and angry response to all this bs tech changes, Well put phantom, unfortunately he is correct the banks and their bs " we are here for you " advertising that all banks do some form of or another is just that folks it's advertising to get your money into their banks..or invest with them, not to do you any favoures at all..look at your repayment rates for anything you use or borrow, and the lousy interest they pay on most accounts, they are not here for the little people , this is a money making industry ( check out their yearly profits, its there for all to research) we are talking about not the local deli guy who is your favourite place to buy..and this is just more complicated rubbish that the bank will use if it saves them one single cent and with no responsibility on their part if at all possible. Whatever happened to keeping things simple and seriously I have no faith in any AI structures currently out there as too many mistakes and I can just see the amount of screw ups this will cause..keep it fn simple folks..it's getting to a point where I don't know this country anymore..as for scammers their already way ahead of the banks and I agree with others the card works great most off the time and is simple to stay on top of and the bios don't always work ..they can actually be a total nuisance to reopen your phone or pad they more often than not, do not.... Recognise...you..AI isn't enough advanced to trust my money and savings with. Can you imagine doing a huge shop getting to the checkout and your not recognised by the terminal..then you may have to go in to a bank and some of us live an hour away from a bank, that's a 3 to 4 hour mission as very few branches and when there's no branches you will not be able to get anyone on the phone..'you cant now' ..so in future you will be absolutely screwed kids....so where's this going to actually end..wouldn't be surprised if they put us thru all this trash then like other things here, they will bring them back??!! God help us from bureaucracy and it continual merry go round..advice folks be a bit more wary of Ai than you currently probably are, it's a huge potential garbage dump at this point in time with every business buying into this still undeveloped and unsecured to a lot of degrees new tech..this is just more concerns for the everyday, I'm suppose to be enjoying my retirement, not dealing with companies trying to make absolutely everything fully automated in a cpl year period and youl also be paying more for the damn privilege, it's a joke..I wish..and as usual I'm sure someone will be peeved with me and my opinion..go for it folks if it makes you feel better..otherwise crew have a nice day..
 
Cashless & Cardless society!
Good luck people..
just wait for Quantum Computing to become the norm.
You ain’t seen nothing yet!
Yeah.... they ain't seen a fraction of it......1984
 
They have already reduced the time you have to repay the Mastercard...
 
A lot of banks are now charging a fee to withdraw cash in banks, that is if you still have a local branch as they are closing daily. Cheaper to use ATMs.
That's if you can find an ATM.....they seem to be getting scarce too.
 
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