Three quarters of UK consumers feel that the introduction of Chip and PIN authorisation at the point of sale will make paying by plastic much safer, according to research by MasterCard.
A survey of 1000 people found that almost half (46 pe cent) felt it was too easy for fraudsters to copy their signatures and to use their cards to pay for purchases in stores.
Paul Lucraft, MasterCard's general manager, business services, Northern Europe, says: "It's clear that the nation lacks complete confidence in the security of signature only checks."
Only 26 per cent of respondents felt that signatures provided adequate protection against fraud. Furthermore, just under ten per cent of respondents admitted to knowing someone who had paid and signed for goods using another person's credit card.
"By replacing signatures with PIN at the point of sale we will go a long way towards making plastic safer for everybody," says Lucraft.
Concerns over security in the credit card marketplace is the key driver behind the UK's move to chip and PIN technology, which is currently being trialled in Northampton.
The migration to chip and PIN will see more than 850,000 retailer terminals, 122 million cards and 40,000 cash machines upgraded by 2005, says MasterCard.