My son, who was in the Marines at the time, had a stopover in Turkey on his way to his deployment. He bought a pair of socks at a store near his ship for a few dollars and used his credit card to make the purchase. About a week later, we got a telephone call from his bank, because my husband had his name on the account as well, asking if anyone had made a purchase in Turkey for a few hundred dollars for shirts, and all sorts of expensive clothing. It seems the store had a swiping machine, and somehow they could read his card number and exp. date, and made purchases with his card. When my husband explained to the bank that my son had used his card to buy socks only and that he was in the Marines, the bank cancelled the charges as well as my son’s card. Unfortunately, my son was without the use of his card until we could mail him his new one, which took quite a while.
I would be very reluctant to use a credit card in a second or third world country. I’d say places like Canada, Britain and Germany are about as safe as the US. Greece, Turkey, and Africa I’d pay with cash or travelers checks.