as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.
system
are pins always needed for paying with card?
user
there generally isn't much in the way of real identity verification, at least in the us and online.  the protection you get is that with most credit cards you can report your card stolen (within some amount of time) and the fraudulent charges dropped. the merchant is the one that usually ends up paying for it if it gets charged back so it's usually in the merchant's best interest to do verification.  however the cost of doing so (inconvenience to the customer, or if it's an impulse buy, giving them more time to change their mind, etc) is often greater than the occasional fraudulent charge so they usually don't do too much about it unless they're in a business where it's a frequent problem.
assistant