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When you hand your card over to a stranger and they find a way to skim the card information, you just lost total control of your account. The skimming technology they use can hold up to 300 card swipes and has a battery life of a few days. They will take the skimmed information and upload it to their computers. Then they will either create new cards with that information by using a magnetic stripe writer, or, they will sell the card information to a group of people who will pass that information on elsewhere. All of this happens on average within a 24 hour window. I read an article today about group of men that were caught after using a fraudulent card. When their car was searched they found some 17+ cards re-written cards. They were using the cards to buy gift cards, Ipod’s, and PS3′s in New York with cards from all over the united states. Most of the people who’s card information was being used, hadn’t even noticed their card information was taken until the police reported it.
The next time you hand your card over, think about where it is going and where it may end up!
Most shoppers don't realize they are in the middle of a heated debate over the fees merchants pay to banks on debit-card transactions, but the outcome may bring steeper costs and fewer rewards for consumers.
We posted yesterday about the amendment to financial reform in regards to debit card fees etc. Another article came out today with more information on this topic and we wanted to share. As consumers, this is something that you will want to follow.
Article HEREImagine sitting down to a nice lunch and as you finish you hand your credit card to the server. Obviously if you are dining in a Fraud Free establishment your card would not leave your hand, but in most restaurants this is not the case. The server runs your card, comes back and proceeds to tell you that your card has been declined. You think "that is impossible, I checked my balance last night." You pull out your Iphone and open your bank application only to find out that your account is overdrawn and has had all your money drained out of it.
What would run through your head???
Transactions in Dallas, London, Chicago, and New York and you are sitting at a restaurant in California. How did this happen?
Most people are completely oblivious when their cards are compromised. You lose your wallet, you know to cancel your accounts. You lose your laptop with all your personal bank information on it, you know to contact your bank and have them notify you for any account changes. But, when you go to pay for a meal at a restaurant, you don't know until it is too late that the server may have taken you card and swiped on a skimmer, taken pictures of the front and back of it with their cell phone, or used the thermal paper from the printer and jotted down all card information.
Most people are skeptical about giving their credit card information over the phone, but every person in the United States hands their card over to complete strangers at every restaurant that isn't Fraud Free. We post daily about new restaurants that have been hit by skimming rings as well as the people that have had their accounts drained from these rings. Every story seems to be showing sings of these rings getting more sophisticated and organized. Your card can be skimmed and used the same day if not the next day in London. Lets do something about it, we are where change starts. Lets start questioning the way that restaurant owners operate their business and handle your personal information.
www.dinefraudfree.com
(877)217-0707Call (877)217-0707 and state that you are calling about the Dine Fraud Free Challenge.
This is what we hear on a daily basis from restaurant owners nationwide. Problem is, when it does happen, we as the consumers are the ones that are affected the most.
Yes restaurants are held accountable, they see fines for not protecting your data, some are even shut down. But, consumers are the ones that have our card information compromised because the business owner had this outlook. Consumers are the ones that have to notify one of three credit-reporting agencies, have to contact creditors for any accounts that have been tampered with, have to contact the FTC (877)438-4338, then have to alert the police in their city, change all account passwords, notify the office of the Inspector General, there is a possibility that they will have to change their driver’s license number, and then notify their utility companies to avoid having them issue a proof of residence to the "fake." Let alone, if your card is skimmed, it will probably be used, if you don’t have fraud protection you are going to lose any and all funds that were taken, then most likely have to pay the overdraft fees incurred by the fraudulent transactions, cut up all your bank cards and credit cards, then wait for new ones to come. It is stated that the average person spends 30 hours resolving a simple ID theft case.
Dine Fraud Free helps prevent your card information ever being compromised. Everywhere you go these days, from WalMart to Walgreens, you swipe your card on a customer facing terminal. The restaurant industry is one of few that you hand your card to a complete stranger and they walk away with it. Just the other day at lunch with a cohort of mine, the server at Red Robin took my card to pay for the meal. After a few minutes she walked back over to the table next to us, then to another table, I had to stop her and ask "do you have my card?" Her face went white and she ran back over to the POS system. When she came back to the table she stated "I forgot your card over by the terminal." It is a simple mistake like this that could have compromised my entire bank account. Another server could have skimmed my card, taken a picture with their cell phone camera, or taken the thermal paper from the printer and imprinted my card numbers on it.
Help us to spread the word about Dine Fraud Free. It is the preventative measure that will empower you as a consumer to not have your card leave your hand. Spread the word to your family and friends. Help Dine Fraud Free to become a household name and create a solution for the restaurant owners that think "it will never happen to me" because the truth is, it happens to us.
BOSSIER CITY, LA (KSLA) –Imagine paying for a quarter- pounder with cheese meal with your credit card, then becoming a victim of identity theft.
Bossier City investigators said it happened at this McDonalds on Airline Drive, with the use of an electronic device called a skimmer.
"And the device reads the information on the tape on the credit card, and stores it. That is everything from the person's name, account number, and other information," said Mark Natale with the Bossier City Police Department.
Police arrested Sankeyno Rakeem Taylor after the credit card company noticed suspicious activity on it's customers credit cards for several weeks.
"He was selling the information to some individuals in Texas," said Natale.
The restaurant's owners reportedly told police immediately, and cooperated with the investigation.
Taylor has been charged with ten counts of skimming, but there could be more.
"Potentially there could be a few hundred people who may have had their information compromised," said Natale.
Bossier City Police say the skimming was happening in this drive- through at the McDonalds on Airline drive. When I called McDonalds to see what they plan to do in the future to keep this from happening again, the person who identified herself as the manager hung up on me.
When confronted inside the restaurant, the woman identifying herself as the manager denied ever talking to me, and said she had no comment when asked what steps they were taking to ensure the incident wouldn't happen again in the future.
"Certainly that would be up to the restaurant to make up those kinds of guidelines but first and foremost there are things a consumer can do," said Natale.
Those things include: Checking your statement often. Also, many banks offer fraud alerts, sign up for them. And if you see your card swiped twice, don't be embarrassed to ask why.
A few months ago, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore had his credit card denied while he was traveling in Santa Fe, N.M. He made a phone call to the bank.
“Now,” came the voice on the other end of the line, “were you in Panama this morning?”
Gore suspects someone in the restaurant he had visited the previous evening copied his card number and sold it. The buyer, apparently in Central America, placed a modest charge on the card — $80 — to test his new acquisition. It was the second time in his life that his identity had been stolen. The first had been when he was with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and required a lot of work to repair.
Some say that property crimes are not as serious as violent crimes, since there is “really no victim,” Gore said. “Well, I don’t agree with that.”
“It really wreaks havoc on a person’s life,” said Bonnie Dumanis, San Diego County’s district attorney. “It’s not necessarily the use of violence that can devastate people now, and I think we’re getting to see that.”
Dumanis and Gore, two of the county’s top law enforcement officials, spoke recently with the San Diego Business Journal about fraud and other economic crimes.
Old Crimes, New Technology
In many ways, new crimes aren’t that new, Gore said — they are just committed with new technology.
The son of a San Diego police officer, Gore recalled his father talking about criminals, and saying perhaps the best way to be a criminal would be to pass bad checks. It was not violent, perpetrators were difficult to catch, and if they were caught, they usually got a slap on the wrist.
Yesterday’s bad check has turned into today’s fraudulent credit card scheme.
Gore said in previous days, people would break into file cabinets to steal personal information. Today, the same information is stored on computer drives, and thieves could be as far away as Eastern Europe.
“The world has shrunk to about this big around,” Gore said, forming a circle by putting his thumbs and index fingers together.
Read the entire story: HERE
