I’m a very gentle man. Like Professor Higgins, I am even tempered and good natured, whom you never hear complain. I have the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein. But…. There is a certain person upon whom I would gladly visit the vilest tortures that my twisted mind can imagine, for he has somehow managed to get hold of the details of one of my credit cards and last weekend he attempted to order online goods totalling just over $1200.00 from, among others, K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Not even a sophisticated thief, the bastard. Or bitch – could be a woman.
This happened to me once before, about three years ago, though I was more interested and even amused – because there was a happy ending – than I was on Sunday. American Express phoned me one evening and asked me if I was trying to order $3000.00 worth of shoes from some outlet in California. I scoffed at the idea. I am a man, and I already own two pairs of shoes. What do I want with more? Definitely not me, I assured the women from Amex, and with chuckles from both her and me the order was disallowed. I was impressed with Amex’s alertness.
I was just as impressed with Washington Mutual’s alertness last weekend, but I didn’t feel in the mood to chuckle. For some reason I felt far more violated and wronged by these attempts at theft. And angry. I have no idea how the person managed to get hold of my name and card number. As far as I can recall, I have never used it to make online purchases. I never throw any card statements, or other financial documents, away without shredding them first. I never let anyone else use my cards. But, for all my precautions, there is one gap in the safety net, and I bet it applies to you too. Every time I eat out, I hand my credit card to a waiter, whom I don’t know from Adam, who then takes it and walks off with it for a minute or two, and I have no idea what he does with it before he brings it back to me with the credit slip to sign. I’m not accusing anyone – I’m just saying that that doesn’t seem very secure.
The moral of all this is: check your statements, and destroy them when you’ve done with them; though even then you may not be immune. And if you once found yourself charged for $3000.00 worth of shoes you knew nothing about, I’m sorry for your misadventure, but at least it wasn’t me!
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I really appreciate the way that the restaurants here in France (maybe all over Europe - I have no idea) where the waiter brings a little machine to you. You insert the card, type your PIN & the card never leaves your sight.
Even if we order a pizza, the delivery person has one of these. It doesn't seem like it would be too complicated for them to adopt a similar method in the states, especially with the increasing numbers of identity theft crimes & people having Wal-Mart shopping sprees on someone else's dime.
But the worst part - seriously...KMart?!!?
Posted by: Rasmenia | February 21, 2009 at 05:41 AM
I've heard that China requires that the card owner key in their secret number when making purchases. This seems like a much better system. I also wonder how we're supposed to trust all these people we hand our cards to every day.
Posted by: Karlo | February 21, 2009 at 09:14 AM
Wow, that sucks big time. I mean, KMart? How embarrassing is that? ;)
I rarely use my credit card here in Germany. I got one in the first place only to be able to rent a car in America, back when I still used to travel a lot. But over here credit cards are still not really necessary.
But really, this taking your card and vanishing with it for a few minutes does seem a bit fishy. I don't think they do it like that in german restaurants either, but I never tried it so far.
Posted by: samulli | February 21, 2009 at 11:49 AM
I used to wait tables for many years and just want to say that in every industry there are levels of dishonesty. I do not think that waitstaff in general should be villified for the alleged crime of one person. Just my opinion, FWIW.
Posted by: Shauna Quirk | February 21, 2009 at 09:29 PM
Hello Nick!
I am so sorry to hear about your incident. I havent had an incident with my credit card (and am very surprised I haven't but thankful) but in the past, someone broke into my vehicle and a neighbor (didnt know she had a long record) stole my checks and had a good time with them. She had a Christmas in July ..so to speak. No matter what the crime, it causes a person to trust others even less and feeling violated. So I truly understand how you feel.
Posted by: Keshia | February 22, 2009 at 07:48 AM
Blech, I'm so sorry. And very impressed that your bank was able to handle it so quickly.
Posted by: J | February 24, 2009 at 02:40 PM