Credit Card Pranks

Posted by: Henry B. | May 12,2008


Last week I wrote about how kids are getting sent pre-approved credit card offers and then actually be issued a card when the application is sent in.  In that entry I also wrote about a case where someone paid a bill with a ripped up/taped together cash advance check and the check was actually approved.  If this doesn’t look like a case of some derelict dumpster diving and then committing check fraud, then I don’t know what will.  

Here’s a site which shows something similar.  It would be funny if it wasn’t so alarming.   A guy went through a pretty ambitious experiment to see how wacky he could make his signature on a credit card receipt and still have the transaction processed.  The answer: he could write just about anything.  

He wrote the name Beethoven, a grid pattern, hieroglyphics, and finally culminated in the moniker, “I stole this card.”  Every time the transaction didn’t get a second look.  Now, I’m tempted to joke about this but it’s actually pretty serious.  What this proves is that anyone could use your credit card and easily get away with it.  Basically, retail clerks just don’t care about the card one way or the other.

In any list of ways to fight identity theft, one thing is always listed: sign your card.  This story proves that signing your card really means next to nothing.  It’s really important to have a card with a photo ID, but really this isn’t much security either.  If you can sign a receipt, “I stole this card,” what’s a picture ID going to do?  

So if you’re card is stolen or skimmed (a duplicate card made), a thief is going to have an easy time using it.  If it’s lost, you need to cancel it immediately.  You’ll never know if it’s been skimmed until you see fraudulent charges on your bill.  Sign up for both your card company’s credit monitoring program as well as third-party monitoring, which will catch this fraud in the act.  A retail clerk might not know the difference, but a credit monitoring service will think it’s mighty suspicious for a card to be used two places at once.  Even if you don’t use the card, you should check your bill to see that it hasn’t been used by anyone else.  

Click here for a good, low-cost monitoring service, and read up on credit monitoring at Experts on Credit.  

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