[from occupied ga]

raid a bank account or run up fraudulent bills

Another reaon that you should NEVER use debit cards for anything.

[Larry Lucido]

You should also keep a “Willard” organizer nearby so you can calculate the tip.

[Post-Neolithic]

Before I go to a restaurant I get cash from my bank’s ATM to cover what I think the bill will be. Never, ever give some Waiter/Waitress your credit card. That’s just fraud waiting to happen.

[Edgerunner]

Can’t trust anyone with your card bump

[scan58]

You’ll want to see this one, too.

[John Leland 1789]

You have got to be kidding me!

China uses this system in restaurants, filling stations, outdoor markets, and many other businesses in all major cities, and thousands of less major ones. It’s been around for a good while. I swiped a card at my table in two establishments just today in Shanghai.

You swipe the card, enter your PIN number, press enter, and then they take the hand-held unit (about the size of a large scientific calculator) back to the counter and drop it in its base, connected to the modems.

Do you know that mobile phones are much easier to use in China and the Philippines, too, and are much less expensive than in the USA.

what in the world is going on in the USA ? Why do we see so many reports of “NEW” stuff in the USA that is old stuff abroad.

I hate to say it, but I’ll tell you another area that seems to be in more advanced use in Asia. Packaging. Yes, the varieties of types and applications of product packaging is a good ways ahead of the USA in may areas of Asia.

I don’t want to offer any reasons for all of this. I have some ideas.

[CholeraJoe]

In 2002 I visited Paris. Almost every restaurant had hand held credit card readers that were brought to the table and printed a receipt on the spot. My credit cards never left my sight. Surely the technology is not so esoteric that we couldn’t have had it in 2002 in the US as well?

[xenophiles]

These "solutions" don't address the basic problem: one set of numbers gives unlimited access to your account, and you must reveal that complete set to the person you're trying to pay. The solution is limited access: if you have to pay someone, say, $41.68, you should be able to generate a set of numbers there and then that give access to that much from your account and no more.

This isn't yet in place because (1) using such a system is a tiny bit more difficult than handing over a card, and most consumers aren't willing to take the trouble, and (2) such an innovation would be one step closer to digital cash, a technology which some big governments (like the U.S.) firmly oppose.

[bmwcyle]

lifelock.com

[dfwgator]

That's not the only type of skulduggery that can happen. Ever hear of tip fraud?

That's why I always leave cash tips and draw a big slash on the tip column of the bill.

[Plutarch]

When I was in England recently, all the restaurants used hand held skimmers.

[latina4dubya]

ping

[Old Professer]

That’s different from swiping ashtrays and salt shakers, I assume.