Larry wrote:

Lesson 3- If your debit card leaves your hand for a transaction within a restaurant or other business, be very cautious where it goes.  As an accompaniment for this suggestion, give serious consideration to removing the 3-digit code from the back of your card and memorizing it or writing it down somewhere else to avoid someone being able to misuse it.

________________________________

Last year when I was traveling in South Africa, all of the sit-down restaurants I dined in used a hand-held device to collect card payments, so the card never leaves your sight.  I wonder what the risks/benefits of such a system are in terms of reducing skimming.  I'm sure somewhere down the line there might be an opportunity to capture the data - it either has to go wirelessly to another device or is downloaded at some dock later in the day, but at least there is no chance for someone to just copy or write down the card info at the point of sale.

I was just speaking to a neighbor this morning about such things - he had brought up this ID theft story.  I am glad my financial institution is vigilant (as I am) and flags transactions (or takes preventative actions) and calls me when something does not look right.  They shut down my debit card after one of my trips when they saw transactions 8,100 miles apart on the same day (24 hour periods).  Coffee in Jo'burg and Chinese food in Maryland!

Care and vigilance!

Tod Chernikoff, CRM
[log in to unmask] 

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]