Can robots get this far?

[ToniCa]

Earlier today I topped up my PAYG balance, using the My Vodafone app on my android phone.

I had to launch the app on my phone, decline an offer of a 30-day commitment-free trial with Vodafone, use the 3 horizontal bars top right (which are tiny on my small phone) to access the menu, choose Top Up, choose Activate Voucher, enter my 11-digit mobile number twice, transcribe my 12-digit voucher number, tick a box to confirm that I wasn’t a robot. AND THEN I had to decide which of a variety of street scenes in a 4x4 grid included traffic lights, followed by a grid in which I had to identify those that included statues. There doesn’t seem to be any way of zooming in on the Captcha screen which appears, so even after borrowing a powerful magnifying glass from an elderly relative who happened to be visiting, I was by no means sure I’d found all the traffic lights. Mercifully the statues were rather clearer, although there was one shot that I totally failed to identify, beyond hazarding a guess that it wasn’t likely to be a statue.

I was successful in topping up, but there seemed every chance that this fairly bright human would fail.

I found myself wondering under what circumstances a robot might get as far as the Captcha. Is this a likely scenario? Is it a useful obstacle to fraud of some sort, or is it just an unnecessary obstacle to topping up?

[BandOfBrothers]

Although some security measures can seem bewildering to us @ToniCa at least they are all in place to try and keep our accounts secure etc from would be unscrupulous person's. 

[ToniCa]

Well, yes, but it's very hard to see how topping up via the app and using a voucher can be a risk, and it does make operating the account difficult if you don't have an adequate signal to call 2345 to activate, or to receive the security code by text to use the main online account.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to ask Vodafone whether the obstacle is there for a good reason, or if someone has been overzealous in setting up the security. If it is needed, fair enough, but could it then be made possible to zoom in on the Captcha images, to give non-robots a better chance of getting through the test?

[Adam]

Hi @ToniCa we don't class security steps as obstacles, more so a crucial element . We put these steps in place to ensure customers security as @BandOfBrothers mentioned previously. We're sorry if this causes any trouble in topping up, but it's in our best interest to keep your information safe and secure and this is the way we carry this out. We appreciate your feedback however. 

[ToniCa]

@Adam, @BandOfBrothers

Well, after puzzling over this for days, I've finally worked out what this is all about!

As I'm sure you're both well aware, there's absolutely zilch in the way of personal information available via the app for PAYG - no name, no address, no access to the online account without going through the full login procedure for that. Well, there's the final 4 digits of one's credit card, which sit there in full sight if you haven't engaged a screenlock on your phone as a whole, but that's not going to do the desperados much good without some personal info to go with it. If they had my screenlock code, they could top up my SIM by charging it to my card, but it would be a very naive desperado who didn't realise that I'd soon shut down either the SIM or the phone.

So I couldn't for the life of me see how going through the Captcha process on a tiny screen could possibly be any protection to me - there's nothing to protect. 

However, there is something to protect - Vodafone's bottom line. I started by setting out "how to do it", but deleted it when I realised that it would be helpful to any desperados who hadn't already figured it out! 

Having finally arrived at that piece of enlightenment, I'll accept the inconvenience of Captchas - although paying by card without any such security suddenly looks much more appealing.

[Adam]

@ToniCa I completely understand your point of view here. It's just in our best interest to have a firm stand on security and start as we mean to go on. Thanks for your feedback though, it's appreciated. 

[ToniCa]

It used to puzzle me that using the Voucher option on https://www.vodafone.co.uk/my-vodafone-account/pay-as-you-go-top-up took me straight to the login page for my account. A while ago that ceased to be the case, but I don't believe I can have used that option after the change.

In light of the above discussion, I bought another voucher, and gave it a whirl! Again, enter the phone number twice, enter the voucher number, and the next stage was a Captcha; it would have been much easier on my PC screen, but this time all I had to do was tick the box!

So either you have to login to your account or face potential ordeal by Captcha - but this now seems entirely reasonable, as Vodafone needs to protect itself from fraud. However it would have saved some time if it were explained that this is what it's about!