(OT) Identity Theft

However, if your debit card is lost or stolen, anyone who gets hold
of it could use it to empty your bank account, and that would be just
your tough luck.
if they knew my pin code for it which is unlikely.

A crooked retailer with a suitable card reader machine can very easily
steal your PIN and enough details from your card to blow its entire
limit.

I am the assistant manager of a charity shop where we have a very
suitable machine. I managed to steal a couple of PINs entirely by
accident, before I spotted the problem.

I have no idea what to do about it. In my experience banks treat
exposure of security holes with extreme defensiveness and hostility.

Meanwhile I will just shut up about it and see if they ever deliver
me a new terminal that fixes the hole.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin

A new one on me happened a while back- I wanted to pay for a takeaway
with my credit card and it was declined so I called the bank- they'd
stopped my card because a shop was broken into the card terminal rolls
were stolen and according to their records I'd used the shop that day
(I had it was the local food shop). Apparently dishonest people can
get enough details off the roll to make fake cards so as the
precaution they'd stopped my card.

I informed them I appreciated their caution but would have rather
preferred if they'd let me know before I next tried to use the card

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"Lesley" wrote in message
...
A new one on me happened a while back- I wanted to pay for a takeaway
with my credit card and it was declined so I called the bank- they'd
stopped my card because a shop was broken into the card terminal rolls
were stolen and according to their records I'd used the shop that day
(I had it was the local food shop). Apparently dishonest people can
get enough details off the roll to make fake cards so as the
precaution they'd stopped my card.

I informed them I appreciated their caution but would have rather
preferred if they'd let me know before I next tried to use the card

Lesley

Yes, one would think they would be obligated to let people know.

Joy

On Apr 8, 3:20*pm, "Joy" wrote:

Yes, one would think they would be obligated to let people know.

I just imagined being in a restaurant and having that happen and not
having any other way to pay- I'm not that good at washing up!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

On Apr 9, 5:00*am, Judith Latham wrote:


Being a paranoid, I usually take the debit card, credit card and cash when
we go out for a meal. Well it may be over the top but I hope it's unlikely
that both cards would be cancelled and me not know about it but
occasionally the connection that the cards use is down. They wouldn't
refuse cash. Now bear in mind that the restaurants I use not only know
where I live (you can see my house across the road from one) but the owner
of the Indian restaurant has visited my home several times. I'm pretty
sure I could go back and pay later if I did have a problem. Still better
safe than sorry.

I always have some backup so it wouldn't be an issue but say Dave
didn't bring his card and my other card was maxed as for cash if I was
using my card it would be because I didn't have cash on me (as much as
possible I use cash as it saves nasty surprises I'd be likely to use
my card in a restaurant because either it was a few days before payday
or if we'd fancied somethin to eat whilst out and I couldn't be asked
to find a cashpoint)

Many years ago it happened to us- my credit card was declined and Dave
said he'd put it on his debit card but due to it being 2 days before
payday it was also declined and it's so long ago people didn't have
debit cards just cash point cards and the nearest cashpoint was miles
away- thankfully it was a place we used a lot and it was getting late
so when I explained I could get some money out but it'd take about
half an hour to get to a cashpoint and back at least the waitress said
"Could you bring it tomorrow?" and I did

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs