Identity Theft Paranoia

Posted by: Michael S. | Dec 27,2007

Writing this blog does have some drawbacks.  I spend so much time reading and writing about crdit fraud that it's made me paranoid that identity theft is everywhere.  Henry’s post today doesn’t really help much.  This Christmas I went to a Macy’s to buy my wife some perfume (DKNY’s Be Delicious.  Hints had been dropped for, like, months.)  

Well, this Macy’s is in a local mall that’s fallen into some disrepair.  It’s about to be remodeled so a large number of shops are empty and closed – at Christmastime.  It’s something of a ghost mall, so the Macy’s was pretty empty as well.  I stepped up to the perfume counter and handed over my debit card to make the purchase.  

Here’s where my paranoia shows itself: just as I was about to plug in my pin number, the woman at the counter peeks at what I’m plugging in.  I think all she was doing was checking to see if the debit machine was working, but I was struck with the worry that she was trying to read my pin number.  This is pretty silly because it would be very difficult to read a pin number in this way.  But the strange, abandoned vibe in the mall made me think that maybe the counter woman needs to make money any way she can.  

Like I said, not entirely rational.  But it begs the question of just how much we should all worry about identity theft and credit card fraud.  While it’s true that it is a growing problem, does this mean that you should be worried every time you hand over your card?

There’s a difference between vigilance and worry.  You should always be careful, but not to the point of being struck with irrational thoughts, the way I was over the weekend.  Effectively monitoring your credit card bill/debit card purchases/and credit report should be enough so that you can rest easy when you use your card.  

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