[KeyLargo]

FRAN EATON

Fran Eaton is a free lance journalist and political consultant

[azhenfud]

Another precaution: NEVER present ANY card in a checkout line where another “customer” has their cell phone in hand.

[BobL]

Using the cards is great (at least if you pay them off right away), but the skimming stuff is pretty nasty. I sometimes walk to the cashier and pay there, when eating out (if possible). For gas stations, it’s actually easy to protect yourself - simply look at some of the other pumps and if readers don’t all look the same drive away (it’s really unlikey they’re skimming more than one pump).

[quintr]

bookmark for later

[Moonman62]

"I'd use cash more if I were you," he said. "I tell my wife not to buy anything on the Internet."

The Internet is probably the safest place to use it. The examples given in the article involved restaurants and gas stations.

[gitmo]

I was on a trip out of town, and right before driving back hom I stopped to eat. I gave the cashier my credit card, got it back, and began my trip home. Several hundred miles later I stopped for gas and my credit card was reported stolen. When I looked at it, I realized it wasn’t my card. The cashier had swapped cards on me.

[mimi from mi]

There is really scary technology out there now where a thief only has to get close to you to pick up your credit card number. Watch the following video on electronic pickpocketing:

http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/?watchId=8ba6f8fc-90a2-4711-90ea-1884ec348310

[AppyPappy]

This happened to us. The culprit: A bank employee. She stole a pile of CC info and sold it. Stealing data is the most common way to get CC info. The kicker? It wasn’t the first time she had done it. The other bank refused to prosecute so she was able to go work for another bank.

[catnipman]

Another security tip:

Memorize and then scrape off the 3-digit ccid/cvv on the back of the card, and then if stolen, at least it can’t be used in most places on the Internet.

For the life of me, I don’t understand why this is printed on the card in the first place, instead of being printed on an enclosed note when the card is issued.

[dhs12345]

Always check your statement for two reasons:

1. you can look for fraudulent charges. The credit card company won't catch everything.

2. once the charge has cleared with the credit card company, it may be difficult to reverse the charge. You have the leverage of the bill not being paid yet. More motivation for all involved to track down the perp if the charge hasn't cleared yet.

[wildbill]

While it wouldn’t completely stop credit card fraud, having a picture on the card would stop the thieves from using them in person.

You’d think with billions of dollars at stake the credit card companies would issue these cards for free if the owner provided a picture—but as far as I know the companies are charging a fee to issue a picture card although it would save them millions of dollars.

Go figure.

[upchuck]

Thank you for posting the entire article.

[ReverendJames]

How does making a fake credit card work when you present it in person as the writer states her number information was stolen. It’s very rare to see a seller using a click-clack machine, POS (point of sale) uses the magnetic stripe to read the card so how was it used in all those stores without the magnetic stripe?

[GailA]

You can be walking down the street, pass some one, and that some one can with the right equipment READ your credit card while it is in your wallet or purse. Saw it on the news last week.

[a fool in paradise]

Millions of numbers are also stolen from banks internally by hackers.

We read now and then about such compromises.

There needs to be more effort to VALIDATE the purchases (and credit card requests).

Identity theft occurs because like illegal immigration (which SPAWNS identity theft) our government does not want to bother with adequate prosecution and the banks would be perfectly happy to extend credit.