Have you ever had your credit/debit card compromised?

A few months ago someone in my office called me and let me know that they had their card skimmed. It is always amazing to find out when these sort of stories come up. I told the people in my office and by the end of the day 3 people in my office had noticed the same thing on their own accounts. Come to find out that they had all gone to the same gas station and used the same pump that was fixed with a credit card skimmer. The reason that I bring this story up is because of the power of social influence. Once person telling another, who tells another, led to this problem surfacing. Later we found out that our office story had become local news. Spread the word to your friends and family about what we are doing as a company. Help us to spread the story!!!

"It will never happen to me"

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.

Another Skimming Ring

Another case of a restaurant having card information skimmed and customers losing their account information. With how easy skimming is and how often it is happening, notify your friends and family to make sure they know where their cards are when paying at a restaurant. If you have not done this simply click the "LINK" below to send them to our Facebook where they can follow us daily.

Here is our Facebook LINK

Here is the article!

Credit and Debit Card Fraud Cases Have International Ties

If you have been following our page for a while you see the constant posts about peoples credit card number being compromised. Another article surfaced today, this one is about a few people in a town that have started to notice their cards being used worldwide. The victims believe that their information was compromised... at a restaurant. If the restaurants had the Dine Fraud Free program, they would know for a fact that it wasn't their establishment! Spread the word to your friends and family. Create a buzz about the program!!

Check out the story HERE

McDonalds employee skims credit cards in drive through

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.

Bossier City Police say if you've used your debit card at the McDonalds in the 1900 block of Airline Drive, then you should monitor your account very closely, and report any suspicious activity to your bank, and police.

Read the official article HERE

Are you ready for the July 1st PCI DSS deadline of July 1, 2010

They payment card industry is making merchants put your secure information at the highest level of security.

Are you, or someone you know, a restaurant owner? If so, are you, or the person you know, ready for the July 1st PCI DSS deadline of July 1, 2010???

Check out this ARTICLE to learn more!!

Yesterday’s bad check has turned into today’s fraudulent credit card scheme.

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