Frankly I wouldn't worry at all and if you were standing next to me now I would be happy to let you copy everything you want from my credit card. What are the odds that the individuals you are dealing with (waiter, random table that the card visits) are in the business of identity theft? And if they are in that business, do you really think that getting a single credit card number is their best way to start stealing an identity as compared to all the other resources out there? Its like walking around wearing a helmet because something might drop out of the sky and kill you. Could it happen? Sure. Is it likely? And has already been pointed out, the waiter/waitress may already have the number from the cc printout, they certainly can memorize the additional 3 digit code from the back even with Mark standing over them.
Last week somone in New Jersey took out 9 credit cards in my wifes name, $50,000 in three days. We had just applied to extend a line of credit with Charter One Bank in Ohio. There processing center is in New Jersey. Imagine that! Luckily she has a credit reporting service and started getting emials when she got into work Monday. Changed one number of social security number. Appearently they knew the credit card companies approve this as they factor in a fat finger. Thought they could throw off detection by a day or two.
"Lost or stolen wallets, checkbooks, and credit cards account for 30 percent of cases in which identity thieves gain access to personal information. That's right, it's the most frequent way that identities are stolen -- more than online transactions, more than stolen mail, and more than computer hacking." http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/millionaire/13899 http://www.myfico.com/Products/IDF/Description.aspx
That I agree with. However, if there are other paying patrons at that payment counter long before I get up out of my seat... I have the right to ensure that my credit card info is not viewable to those other patrons as stated in my second post in this thread and in almost every post that followed the second post. As I said, if me standing in line to pay for my bill along with other patrons is in bad taste... That means the cash register person must also have a problem with other patrons standing in line in front of me. Now...do I do this every single time? Of course not...sometimes I pay with cash (as already mentioned) if the bill is small and other times I can clearly see from where I'm sitting there aren't other patrons already at the payment counter (no need for me to get up). However, newtoet seems bent out of shape about my very first post eventhough he continue to debate almost every post after the first post including the ones in which I was clearly talking about a second situation. Suddenly, he pretends to be surprised and saids I've changed my story. I just don't think he reads too well after the first post nor read the stuff he quoted himself after the first post. Therefore, he was fully aware of the fact I was talking about two particular distinctive situations and both situations I've discussed... 1. First post deals with fraud committed at the cash register by an employee of the restaurant. I've later posted links to such as facts in this thread especially when he has the tone (although he didn't say it) that such doesn't happen. http://idtheft.about.com/od/methodsofthef1/p/Skimming.htm I myself have been the victim of skimming although I only mentioned I myself was the victim of credit card fraud along with mentioning I've seen the bad side of a restaurant via being an employee myself. 2. My second post and remainders have dealt with another issue. The issure of patrons at the counter paying their bills or having conversations with the cash register person while my card is in their view. I myself can memorize three credit cards of other patrons long enough to go back to the car and write it down on paper... All due to the carelessness that occurs at cash registers (restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores et cetera). However, I've never been a victim of credit card fraud at those other places I've mention nor have I've been employeed at those other places. Therefore, as long as I see others standing in line to pay their bills... I will get up out of my seat and ensure nobody else has access to the info on my credit card except for the person I handed my credit card to. If that's bad taste...so be it. I've not been a victim of that type of fraud every since my habit of doing such. Whereas in prior when I was naive and didn't give it a second thought...fraud occurred...restuarant employee prosecuted. I plan to keep it that way...no story has changed in this thread. Lets be clear about that. Mark
Prove it... Post your credit card number here at ET along with an image of my request next to the credit card. Just kidding...maybe not. Mark
Exactly and I've seen such happen to others at restaurants...cheap or expensive. I recently saw a waiter (not waitress) take someone's credit card...walk away...go to another table to see what a different client needed (I believe it was a picture of water)... Waiter than put down the tray that had the other patron credit card and bill on the table of the patron requesting more water... Waiter than quickly walked away and came back about 3mins later with a picture of water. He then picked up his tray and proceeded to the cash register with two other patrons already standing at the cash register. Guess what happen when a waitress serving my table brought me the bill and I gave her my credit card??? I got out of my seat and walked to the payment counter and stood in line behind those other patrons (more like to the side)... Watching to make sure my credit card wasn't placed carelessly in view of other patrons as small talk was occurring at the payment counter. Yep, everything was cool and I did leave a fat tip. Mark
I know you are half joking but from your reply you obviously missed my point. Allowing one person at random (the person I was replying to BTW, who was not you) to have your credit card number has a very low chance of causing anything bad to happen Posting your credit card on the internet would require me to cancel the card, have a new card issued. Not a huge deal but still a pain in the butt. Letting a random waiter or the patron in line behind the waiter see your credit card number is nothing like putting it out there for the entire world to Google.
Sometimes you run up a big bill and you didn't bring enough cash to cover it. Kind of like a margin call. What would you do then?... Or you take quite a few relatives out to dinner and you KNOW it is going to be a big bill. Do you carry around that much cash? I don't. I've been mugged before. It can cost you all your money.
That wasn't a cheap restaurant. If I could have, I would have left the restaurant to go find a nearby ATM machine. Why bother with all that when I can just stand in line to ensure my credit card isn't left lying around somewhere. Situation was already weird after I saw that...could have gotten weirder had I left the place to go look for a cash machine. Maybe I should have just waited for the lady in the cafeteria outfit to come by with her food card (see earlier post to understand sarcasm). Mark