These days when you buy using payment methods other than cash supermarket’s no longer check for ID at the Point of Sale. They do this whether you pay using Ecocash or swipe creating a potential security breach.

The standard procedure worldwide is that if somebody pays using a debit or credit card, the shop at least checks for ID to make sure that the name on the card being used to pay matches the name on the ID.

Banks and Financial institutions haven’t exactly made it easy for shops and supermarkets to do this. In order to lure the unbanked section of the population, financial institutions have been dishing out lite account cards without any personal details on them.

Some of the till operators we spoke too also mentioned delays as the reason they have just given up on capturing details whenever somebody uses payment methods other than cash. The wait time for an Ecocash transaction is notoriously long that supermarkets have dedicated tills to handle the mess. Usually, these lines move slowly and are extremely long.

Card cloners and thieves cannot withdraw cash

Zimbabweans have been compelled by the cash shortages to become a cashless economy. This has given rise to card cloners and Ecocash line thieves. The upside of these cash shortages is that no one is going rush to an ATM and empty your account by withdrawing cash using your details.

However, given the lax procedure at Point of Sales in most supermarkets thieves might well empty your account buying stuff with zero chance of them ever being caught. There is no paperwork whatsoever involved in this process.