Mar 09 2007
Swipe At Your Own Risk
I still stand behind the “with the will, there will be a way” concept with regard to electronic theft and fraud. Here is an article about how a group of thieves stole customer credit card info right at the point of sale. This ranks right up there with people who replace ATM machines with their own home brew creation to accomplish the same task and then design to look like the legit ATM it is replacing. This also illustrates how important checking your statements really is.
This may already be a well-known scam, but here’s another good one. You pay for something with your credit card/ debit card, and you get someone elses’ expired card back instead. Not knowing your card was stolen, you get a hefty bill , and your stuck with it ( did you report your card was stolen?).
Look at your card when you get it back!
BTW I never sign the back of my cards: it says “ask for photo ID”
Technically speaking, when you put the “ask for photo ID’ on the back of your card it’s supposed to invalidate the card since that is not considered a legal signature (unless you want to legally change your name to that). I used to regularly ask for photo ID’s on credit card purchases and was quite surprised at the number of people who declined to do so and quickly exited the building without a fuss.