It's funny you should actually post about this. I was just talking about this today with a friend.
I could count on two hands the number of times I've actually used cash over the past 5-10 years, whether it be small amounts for something like a coffee or thousands of dollars for something larger. Everything for me is paid via debit card (backed by Visa and Mastercard, but offers no credit facility).
NFC has taken over as the primary card type (followed by chip-based cards). Magstripe is almost never used any more (and in many cases, terminals will refuse magstripe payments or have it disabled altogether). Almost all newer style pinpads don't have a magnetic reader any more. Just about every card has NFC, Chip and Magstripe by default.
As a consumer, it usually costs me nothing to use a card for everything. Some stores will charge a fee (which is a card processing fee passed down from the merchant) that is usually 0.25 to 0.50% of the total payment amount but not all stores pass that on. This fee is only charged if I select the "Credit" option on the card machine, otherwise I can press "Savings" and it's completely free everywhere. For me, it all comes out of the same pool of money, the only difference is how the payment gets routed. An example of where this might be different is if you had 1 card, but a credit account attached to your normal savings/transaction account. Pressing "Credit" would use the credit side of things where as pressing "Savings" (or far less commonly "Cheque") would pull the money from another one of your accounts.
Likewise, money transfers here between accounts or even intrabank transfers (via your internet banking portal or a smartphone app) are instantaneous and completely free. Then on top of that, there is an application available for iOS and Android devices called
Beem It which allows for instant payments for up to $2000 per day (or $10,000 per 30 days). I use it when someone pays for dinner and I want to transfer my share of the bill.
Just on cheques briefly, they are almost never used in Australia any more. I think I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've handled a cheque and all of them have been more than 10 years ago.
As for security, just like anything, if you look after your things and are mindful of personal security and the security of your mail, you won't get scammed or skimmed. Treat payment methods like you (should) treat your passwords, although most banks here will reverse unauthorised transactions, or if they can't, refund small amounts at their cost, without any questions asked.
For me, cashless works reliably and securely every single time. Even when networks go down, payments are honoured.