Denmark's CPR number, used for everything from loans to fines, is essentially guessable because it's based on birthdate and gender. Host Kay Xander Mellish explains how the system works and why it's a security risk, while exploring how Danes have nearly abandoned cash and moved to digital payments.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. Ordinarily, I don't get my technology news from the local newspaper sold by the homeless in Denmark. But I did this week. First of all, I learned that in Denmark you can pay your homeless newspaper seller by text message. If you don't have loose change, as I often don't, you can send a text to the newspaper seller's registration number plus the amount you want to give him, and the seller gets paid right away. Secondly, I learned that at least some homeless people in Denmark have iPhones. Not my particular seller, but another reader had written a letter to the editor of the homeless newspaper. Saying he'd been trying to buy a newspaper the previous week, but his seller had been too wrapped up in his iPhone to pay attention to a customer. The letter writer was asking if it was worth spending 20 crowns on a newspaper to help a homeless man who had a phone worth at least 2,000 crowns. The newspaper had a good response. They said that an iPhone is a perfect device for a homeless person. It allows him to keep all the information he needs in one place, you know, government documents, health documents, family photos. And it was a way for him to get phone calls and emails related to housing and jobs. I thought that was a very sensible approach. Danes have a very sensible approach to IT in general. As I've said on other podcasts, the Danes are very practical people, and they use IT for all manner of practical things. For example, there's a new app you can get from your kommune that allows you to immediately report things that need repairing around town. You know, you come across a park bench that's been broken, and you just hit the app, send the GPS coordinates, and it's immediately reported to the right person. Now, how long it will take them to fix it is another question— this is the kommune, after all— but at least it's been reported. Technology also plays a big role in anything having to do with money in Denmark. I read the other day that only 25% of Danish retail transactions are in cash. down from 81% 20 years ago. And you gotta know that the Danish tax department loves that. If they can trace it, they can tax it. There's even a law being talked about that would allow Danish businesses to refuse cash. That's because more and more you can pay for things directly with your mobile phone. That's nice for small businesses like my hairdresser. I pay her with my mobile phone. Then she doesn't have a lot of cash around and doesn't have to worry as much about being robbed in her little shop. Now, of course, as money goes online, crime goes online too. Denmark has been relatively insulated from identity theft and cybercrime so far. To steal money online from Danish-speaking people, you have to be a Danish-speaking cybercriminal. Now, most of the IT types in Denmark are busy with startups making B2B applications they can sell abroad. They don't have time for crime. So language has protected Denmark. Up to a point. There is one Danish language IT scam going around: the "Hjælp, jeg er strandet i Leeds" email. You get it from one of your Danish friends whose email account has been hacked, and it says they are stranded in Leeds, England, and need £1,350 British pounds to get home. Please send it via non-traceable Western Union. This has been going around for more than a year, and the person is always in Leeds, England, and always needs exactly £1,350. So basically, the criminal got one letter translated into Danish once. And it still works because many Danes are unfamiliar with this scam, even though a round-trip ticket from Denmark to Leeds only costs about £100. If the letter writer is asking for £1,350 to get home, I guess he's going to be doing some shopping first. But I have a great fear that more cybercrime and identity theft is on the way to Denmark. As those of you who live here know, the country's IT systems are all based around something called the CPR, the Central Person Register. Everyone has a CPR number, and you use it for everything— for banking, for the doctor, for school, for, for taking books out of the library. My daughter used hers last week to sign up for a Bhangra dance course during summer vacation. So a lot of people have your CPR, and if they don't, it's pretty easy to guess. Your CPR number is your birthday, plus the century you were born in, plus 2 random numbers, plus your gender. Did you know that? That men have uneven CPR numbers and women have even numbers? I did not until I looked it up. Anyway, the CPR was probably high-tech in 1968 when it was first introduced. Now I think it's a national menace. Anyone who has your CPR can impersonate you. Now, so far it's been mostly minimal damage. People give your CPR number when they get caught riding the S-train without a ticket, or people take out little SMS loans using your CPR number. But the potential for trouble is certainly large if the number that controls basically your entire life in Denmark is somehow hacked. Now, there's a system called NemID that provides 2-factor identification for banking and taxes, but it's based on Java, which is the world's Buggiest system. It's easy to hack and it needs constant updates. I think that like Google or Facebook, using your CPR should require getting a confirmation code on your mobile phone. Nearly everyone in Denmark has a smartphone, even a few sensibly outfitted newspaper sellers. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. You can go to our show page on Facebook, How to Live in Denmark, our website, howtoliveindenmark.com, Or tweet us at @HowToLiveInDK. The 2 is a number. See you next week. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on Amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of Amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.
