Merchants Against Credit Card Theft
June 25, 2005 at 07:34 | 
Print This Post
Print This Post
Tom Zeller has a great article in the NYT on the steps merchants are taking to protect themselves against credit card theft. And Tom gives us the simile of the day:
Blink, many merchants say, and your defenses are compromised. “It’s like dealing with the Velociraptors in ‘Jurrasic Park,’ ” said Tracy L. Brown, a co-chairwoman of the Merchant Risk Council, an antifraud consortium of some of the largest retailers that accept credit cards online or over the phone. “They systematically test the fence,” Ms. Brown said. “They wait until the electricity is down on the fence and then they strike.”
Related Posts
New Ontario Consumer Protection Legislation for Online Agreements
Life in a Northern Country
Identity Thieves Organizing
Trading in Stolen Credit Card Data
MetLife to Launch Free ID Theft Aid
Mastercard Security Breach Affects 40 Million Cards
New Credit Card Security Initiative
This is the Trackback URI
/images/rss.jpg)
Agreed with completely! However defenses are something that need to be fixed in the first place before introducing anything new. Several merchants do not even ID’s, check the card for a signature or compare signatures against the card. Not only are the merchants at stake, but we the consumers are at stake here. The industries will see a huge increase in fraud. In a Blink it will be that simple for a thief to walk out with merchandise on someone elses card. Not that it doesnt happen already as it does on a daily basis. I unfortunately was a victim of credit card fraud. Not one of the merchants checked the check ID on the back of the card, saw my name which does not resemble anything close to a males name, nor did they compare signature. Upon approaching the merchants, I was specifically told by Walmart it was not their policy to check ID’s unless the computer prompted them to do so, which was something the credit card company had to set up. Which none of them have that prompting available. So until the credit card industry is safe in the first place, both with the merchants and credit card companies working together to stop fraudulent use. Blink is only going to make it easier for these criminals!
I will alsoadd as a test, after getting the card replaced, I started to sign the slips “Didnt Check Id” if they didnt check the card or Id. Not one person yet has noticed it!
Those of you who claim that the signature is required on credit cards are simply ill-informed and this is NOT an “urban legend” in spite of what some people naively claim. I invite you to look at the website of virtually every credit card company. As an example, check out the Capital One website: http://www.capitalone.com/credit101/fraud/IDTheftPackageV012172004We.pdf?linkid=WWW_Z_Z_Z_FRD_R1_01_T_IDTFT
Look in the section “How Can I Prevent ID Theft?” Capital One bank’s Fraud Group clearly states “Sign your credit card or write that the merchant must ‘Check I.D.’ on the back of your card.”
So, clearly, those of you who say that signature is required are just flat wrong, and that it is even documented by major credit card companies (Capital One isn’t the only one - check Chase, MBNA, and others as well) to put “Check ID” in order to avoid identity theft.
Only the U.S. Postal Service and my State Liquor Store have refused to take my credit cards. As a result, I use my credit card online on the USPS website to purchase stamps (when obviously the card isn’t even available to them) and I write a fee-free credit card check in the liquor store. Every other merchant seems to be intelligent enough to grasp that it is a lot more difficult to generate a fake State Driver’s license than to sign a fake signature.