Posted on 07/26/2007 5:03:45 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Every think twice about handing over a credit or debit card to your restaurant server when paying the check? Maybe you should. While most of the time the payment goes through just fine, when your card leaves your sight, nasty things can happen. Occasionally, crooks use devices called skimmers to steal account information that's embedded in a card's magnetic stripe, which they sell or use to make counterfeit cards to raid a bank account or run up fraudulent bills.
It's estimated 70 percent of that type of card fraud, known as skimming, happens in restaurants, one of the last places where customers give their cards to someone who disappears into a back room to process the transaction.
In 2001, a credit card ring that involved wait staff stole information from customers at Don Pablo's Mexican Kitchen in North Fayette and, prosecutors said, and made fraudulent purchases totaling $16,861.
That's not the only type of skulduggery that can happen. Ever hear of tip fraud? It happens when a server alters the tip when entering the final bill in the payment system. You could be charged an extra 50 cents, a few bucks or more, but unless you cross-check your receipts with your monthly statements, you probably wouldn't catch it.
Now, a new technology is being pushed by payment systems giant Verifone that's designed to speed transactions and combat fraud by keeping cards in customers' hands.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Occasionally I will treat someone else to a meal. What brings a wry smile to me is when I put in an overtip, and the person who I treated berates me for the tip. I think to myself: "What the hell do you care ya duck. You just ate for free and it's not like it's YOUR money!"
That's why I always leave cash tips and draw a big slash on the tip column of the bill.
Also, the waiter gets the full tip, instead of having to give 3% of it to the credit card company.
The servers prefer you to leave cash as well, b/c it’s not automatically declared like the CC receipts are.
Fridays in Addison, TX is using this new format from Micros. It’s actually a pretty cool deal for the customer and the server. Each server had a hand-micros, ear-piece, and microphone. It cuts down the time the server is away from your table, especially if he/she is busy, and allows him to radio for help if he gets in the weeds. I was impressed by it.
10% of $36.24 is $3.60 (ignore the pennies)
Half of $3.60 is $1.80 (you can divide by 2, can't you?)
$3.60 + $1.80 = $5.40
$36.24 + $5.40 = $41.64, which is pretty darn close to the calculator-derived total of $41.68.
And no, I've never been accused of being a boring dinner companion.
What scares me is a restaurant full of the sort of people who worry about calculating tips to the third decimal...
Starting with $36.24..Calculate 10 % real quickly, can you do that? Thats about $3.60, just move the decimal over one.. not hard, is it? Now half that is $1.80. Still easy, right? Now add them.. $ 5.40 Easy, wasn’t it? Not exactly rocket science, is it?
Last month, I used my debit card in Kamiah, Idaho, to buy and ID fishing license. A few days later, in Elk City, ID, I tried to buy a t-shirt. It was denied. Ditto at the town’s only gas station a few minutes later. Went back to the cabin and called my bank in Florida. The lady asked me if I was in NYC. When I said no, I’m in the back country in Idaho, she asked me if my wife was in NYC. I told her no, she’s sitting right across the table from me. Some weasel had taken $802 out of my account in South Florida. The money was restored within 48 hours, but I couldn’t get a new card until we returned to Florida. The next day at the bank, the manager told me that mine was the sixth case that week from that same branch.
Woops! You beat me to it. Actually, I dont know what it is about numbers that has so many people flustered... Must be the left wing whole language sociocrat neo-Marxists running the educational sytem in this country !
LOL that's exactly how I do it. It never ceases to amaze me how many people can't do that.
With my bank, I simply told them which charges were fraudulent and they refunded that money back to my account, as well as the NSF fees that resulted from the fraudulent charges.
My bank covers my debit card if someone misuses it.
Thanks for the sarcasm, it added a lot to the discussion.
I'm a graduate of Ramsey's Financial Peace University, but I've found that having cash on hand (even in envelopes) is a bad idea for me. The debit card works just fine. My bank, USAA, has excellent service in this area, so it's really no problem, just a minor hassle.
Don’t know who Clark Howard is, but Dave Ramsey says differently (so I guess it’s who you want to believe). I have also personally checked the security policy on Visa’s website as regarding Visa debit cards and they offer the same protection on my Visa debit card (unless they have changed it since then, but I doubt it).
You are misinformed. It works exactly the same as with a credit card. You report the fraud. The company informs any vendor that accepted the stolen card of a charge back. The money goes out of their vendor account through the bank and back into your account where it started.
Retailors are the ones that lose when they allow fraudulent charges. It's amazing they aren't more careful about verifying the identity of card users. That's why all my cards say "CHECK ID" in big red letters where the signature is supposed to go.
ping
A real innocuous statement about dinosaurs in the check out lane results in "belligerent douche bag"? Look in the mirror, buddy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.