Some clever boffins at Warwick University have invented a new device called a PED Cradle that could help retailers prevent 'shoulder surfers' – crims who linger with intent behind innocent customers and watch as they type in their PIN number – by distorting the view of anyone not looking directly at the keypad.

Well, it sounds very impressive, but the thing was actually invented to help partially sighted consumers to use chip and PIN, so it's actually just a glorified magnifying glass. I'm not even sure how many cases there are of shoulder surfing anyway… you'd have to get up pretty close and personal to the shopper in front of you to spy their PIN, and then work out how to nick their card afterwards.

For the merchant too it's hardly going to make much difference because the banks will pick up the bill for any card fraud resulting if the shop has had chip and PIN installed. It's yet to be seen how many stores will fork out 70-odd quid for a large piece of magnifying glass to ward off those pesky PIN peekers, but Boots seems to think it's onto a winner.

The problem with security is that the more secure you make something, the more likely the user will take chances with it. It's our wont as humans to live dangerously – seat belts? Nah, I'll take my chances; I'm only going round the corner. So it might be that new anti-fraud measures like this persuade shoppers to be more blasé about guarding their pin or choosing a hard-to-remember number. And just think, if we make card fraud virtually impossible, the criminal fraternity will go back to basics: a large blunt instrument and the element of surprise. Dunno about you but I'd rather have my PIN nicked.