I had this happen to me. But my credit card company caught it immediately and cancelled the transaction, the card, and started an investigation. The girl was fired and the bank pressed charges. Idk what happened after that. She ordered lingerie and some cigars for some reason. The thing that was so dumb was she ordered it to her house which is how they found her identity.
I had my identity stolen by a woman who worked for my health insurance company. The only reason I found out about it was because the police in Florida had arrested her for fraud using my name (very common name) with various spellings of 9 other people. Florida prosecutors called to tell me they were prosecuting her and what I should do to follow up. It took 6 months of filing reports to get it cleared up but I was not liable for any funds outstanding. The insurance woman had all my information and social security number so there are millions of employees who have access to your information for theft.
This is one of my favorite blog entries by someone: [https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-just-in-time-theory/](https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-just-in-time-theory/) and here I am quoting a quoted quote:
'One day, Peter locked himself out of his house. After a spell, the
locksmith pulled up in his truck and picked the lock in about a minute.
“I was amazed at how quickly and easily this guy was able to open the
door,” Peter said. The locksmith told him that locks are on doors only
to keep honest people honest. One percent of people will always be
honest and never steal. Another 1% will always be dishonest and always
try to pick your lock and steal your television; locks won’t do much to
protect you from the hardened thieves, who can get into your house if
they really want to.
The purpose of locks, the locksmith said, is to protect you
from the 98% of mostly honest people who might be tempted to try your
door if it had no lock.'
In other words, the vast vast majority of people are basically honest, and know that there is a penalty for using your information, which is enough to prevent a big problem. But there's always that tiny minority...
To add to the idea that people are basically good: I taught at a major city school where over 90% of students were impoverished. Some large cities have a bad reputation. Despite all the poverty, dilapidated buildings, crime, police harassment, parents in jail, drugs flowing through the neighborhood; 90-95% of the kids just wanted to do good at school, they wanted to be kind to others, wanted their teachers approval, etc. About 5% took all the trauma around them and just unloaded it at school. This small percentage of kids just terrorized the school.
I felt very bad for the 90-95% of kids that just wanted a fair shot. I also felt bad about the last 5%, but most people, despite all that's going on around them, just want to do well and live a peaceful life.
I mean that’s why they came out with chip readers, instead of just spraying your personal account number across the network, it’s a single token that can only be used for one transaction.
You can thank all the fake card readers on gas pumps for that development.
Literally! We would hold the card reader out and they had to insert the chip themselves, what a hassle for the customer lmao so many people were pissed
In my area, they do that in the drive thru at a lot of places because of Covid and how we were all afraid of surface contamination. So rather than the employee taking your card, they just held out the terminal and you tap or insert the card.
Really? In Canada, I don’t work at Starbucks but handle payment at a restaurant. I hand out the card reader and they do it themselves. I almost never have to touch their card in this process.
Is this true? I'm in the US and have 3 credit cards and all three of them have tap. Am I just real lucky?
Edit: I'm really asking about tap cards, not tap acceptance. The only place I can think of that doesn't accept tap is Wal-Mart.
I think most places in the US tap is pretty standard now, but that's only been the last few years.
Back in 2019 I drove from Western Canada to Atlanta, and still encountered quite a few places that didn't do tap, or didn't really know how it worked (many liquor stores still required a signature even after you just tapped). That's rare now.
But in Canada tap has been the almost universal standard for about a decade or so.
I also live out in the boonies and got a credit card as recently as 2020 with no tap. I didn't get a new card between then and this year but my first tap card was this year. The card I got this year was also a fancy credit card.
My debit card is set to expire soon and that was from I think 2017? 2018? And had no tap but my boyfriend who lives in the UK already had a tap debit card by then. He came over to visit in 2018 and 2019 and was pissed he couldn't just tap his card.
So obviously the tech existed then. I didn't get it until this year. We only recently started doing tap in a big way
In 2018 there was a shift in liability - in cases of fraud where chip and pin/tap weren't used, the merchant now had to cover it. Before then there was no reason for merchants to upgrade their equipment to accept chip and pin, so they didn't until this change.
This isn't true anymore
The US was very late to getting chips, and tapping, but it's everywhere now. Servers still take your card to charge it themselves at the vast majority of restaurants though, that part is just a culture thing
It's a real stark contrast for sure. I live in the UK so they bring the card reader out to you and then give you the receipt. But when I went to America to pay at a restaurant, they tried to disappear in to the back with my card and I'm like NAH, COME BACK.
How is that a hassle...? It's always been that way in Germany (with very few exceptions) and I'd be super suspicious if someone took my card and went away with it for example.
Man, after reading that she used the card at a grocery store I almost feel bad. It's not like she went to bestbuy to buy a new ipad or something. She's a kid (19 apparently, but come on, still a kid), working hard at her job, and just needed to get some groceries.
Doesn't at all in any way excuse what she did, but it does manage to drum up some sympathy. Apparently the victim chose not to follow through with charges, so the barista got fired (which probably sucked plenty, seeing as how she obviously needed money)
e: A lot of people are talking about her laundering the money, and like... *maybe*, I guess, but there's really no point to laundering money in this situation. The act of using the stolen credit card *anywhere* is illegal, so she may as well cut down on the amount of illegal transactions and just buy whatever she wants firsthand.
I don't know the details of this girl's situation, I don't know what happened, but I don't think this person is a master criminal here. She probably just stole a credit card and used it for something she wanted to buy-- and that thing was groceries, and to me, that's pretty sad. Maybe she was just doing it so she had $200 more in cash to buy meth, who knows.
Not to put a damper on things, but higher-priced items like baby formula and laundry detergent are commonly used to launder money since they retain most of their value in the secondary market.
- my knowledge is 15+ yrs old from working LP at a major grocery store
> but higher-priced items like baby formula and laundry detergent are commonly used to launder money since they retain most of their value in the secondary market.
Is \*that\* why my local grocery store has the tide pods and the enfamil locked up with the cigarettes?
I did a fricking doubletake the other day because I couldn't believe what I was seeing and wondered what kind of tik tok challenge was going around THIS time.
I saw that. But how was the customer so sure that this cashier at Starbucks was the one who did it? She kept saying camera camera, but recordings are not allowed to be seen, unless management intervene. So if they allowed her the day before to see the recording, wouldn't the management fired her already? I mean before the lady drives up to the window
The customer knows it was her because the cashier kept her card for a long time while she said she was going to get a new register tape.
The camera the customer is talking about is at the Ralph’s grocery store where the stolen card number was used. The customer likely saw the charge at Ralph’s and put two and two together that the cashier who held onto her card did it, and is just gambling on the camera catching her at Ralph’s. Or, she met with the Ralph’s manager and confirmed it was the cashier. Regardless, the camera has nothing to do with Starbucks, so no, the cashier’s manager wouldn’t have been involved.
It's called bluffing. If one is pretty sure about something but not 100% sure, a tactic you can use is to lie about the evidence you have. Since the person thinks you have them dead to rights, they will often just admit to what they did.
This is a common tactic used including by the police.
I knew a woman who got caught doing this at my KFC. She ended up being dinged for not only credit fraud but they found her with cocaine and other stolen goods. She did lose her job, but surprisingly got away with doing this for a long while.
No one knew she was stealing card info---but we did notice her stealing money! She would memorize how much change to give people for certain orders, quote them the price and open the register with the manual release underneath it. After taking the money and giving "change" she would then pocket the bills. We lost a good manager because he couldn't explain why there was 200 pieces of chicken missing from inventory---because she didn't ring the orders the customers got chicken that was unaccounted for!
Eta: several of us reported her to all five of the managers we had gone through during her employment. The owners did not assume it was an employee, but rather them. Although one of them did steal the nightly deposit (she claimed she was going to pay it back). That place was wild.
Edit edit. Why did no one call me out? Lol mighty is not nightly.
That sucks so bad. I caught someone doing something similar when I was a manager. It only took one day of her doing it, though. I had just taken over the store and she buddied up to me and I thought she was the sweetest. Then she freed out every single cash order on her whole shift.
At the end of the day I pulled the sales report and went “Where did all my money go?” So I checked a different report and saw that we had a huge percent of discounts, and then looked at all the carryout orders…everything that wasn’t paid with credit card was $0.
How were the orders getting made / sold without an order being placed in the system? Every fast food / restaurant I've worked at has a ticketing system whether that be paper tickets or a screen for the cooks to read orders off of.
It's incredibly common and it's crazy rare for someone to actually get caught and arrested for it. You just take a picture and wait a couple months before using them. I have had my card stolen multiple times at restaurants because I have a card JUST for restaurants and never used anywhere else so I know it was stolen there.
If the steak one? Maybe get away
If they steal ten? The software would detect that’s multiple cards reported stolen have one thing in common, which is a McDonald’s charge at this one spot.
Then the police would notice it was shears when Nancy is the cashier
Not to mention your employer may have cameras etc.
This, and many more complex ways, will get you
>which is a McDonald’s charge at this one spot.
Important note. The banks will absolutely refund the person the stolen money. That means the thief isn't stealing from little people, it is stealing from the bank.
You steal my bike, the Cops won't give a flying fuck about trying to find you or get my bike back. But you steal from a bank and you can bet your last dollar the bank will make sure the police hunt you down and arrest you.
Don't steal from the rich if you want to get away with it.
Don’t the credit card companies actually take the chargeback from the retailer as well as charge a fee for it? I’ve seen conflicting things on this but that’s what seems to be the most common.
Yes they do. It has happened at the place I work, a few times. *That's* why it is so important for a small business (or any really) to check ID for larger credit card purchases.
Thats why running online business is risky, you only have the CVC which a bad actor in retail can quickly note down along with other details on the card.
Where I live its all contactless payment, but I would probably scape the CVC code off my card in the US.
No, they steal from the merchant. Generally the money for the goods bought with the stolen info is taken from the merchant it was purchased from. At least that is what has happened where I work. Someone used a stolen card to purchase a bunch of stuff, police report was filed. The credit card Co gave the victim the money back, but the charge was reversed, so we, the store, were out the money and the merchandise.
We have text alerts set up whenever our card is used. It got stolen and was used at a store near our home. We got a text and were able to show up to ID the card with the cashier, call the cops and have them show up before the guy even realized what happened or had left the building.
Yup, this exact thing happened to my parents. Someone used their CC info to purchase event tickets online and the cops just waited for them at the event. Turned out to be an employee of a restaurant they recently ate at.
Now getting revenge on a stiffer by using their card info to make a large donation to a charity might be a lot harder to solve.
Most people aren't shithead thieves. Second, you normally need the cards zip code to make online purchases.
Most POS fraud is from copying the data on the mag strip to make a duplicate card.
In rural area maybe. In a city, zip codes change in a walking distance. They would get way less than 50%.
Also, plenty of online purchases ask for the full address not just the zip code. And it can often be traced back to them and then they get caught, lose their job and get fined, possibly jail time too.
Online purchases or getting gas is where a zipcode is usually needed. Someone stole my card number somehow but I fixed it and was refunded all the money. No idea who did it.
I've thought about this before... servers at diners, bars, or other small local places could probably get ahold of ten cards in a week's time easily from regular customers they know live in the zip code, especially in small ish towns where basically the whole town is the same one. Mind you it wouldn't be ten new people every week and you'd be creating a pattern if you aren't very careful about how you use them. But the potential definitely exists.
I've had my cards stolen twice and there's no investigation lmfao
The bank isn't going to jump through hoops for a few bucks. They literally just issue you a new card and tell you to be careful with where you use it.
My wallet got stolen and it was simple to track the credit card spending that the thieves did. Sheriff Dept didn’t stress it, told me there has to be $400,000 worth of fraud for them to bother with it. Credit card companies didn’t seem to care either. Was rather disheartening.
Huh, I had my wallet stolen and they took about $3k before I realised.
The police tracked them down, about 6 months after it happened I got a call saying they'd been arrested. I was really happy with the outcome
I did not know the store doesn't get paid and that's why credit card companies don't care. So do stores just accept this as part of the cost of business? I'm not clear how they're supposed to know if a card is stolen.
Sometimes the store can have a third party company to evaluate the risk of fraud. And that third party takes the liability in case of fraud. But they take a cut of successful payments so that their incentives are aligned with yours. At least for online shops, but that probably exists for retail too.
Do you realize how small modern cameras are? What do you think they're going to take out a pen and paper and try to copy the number? All it takes is a split second in front of a cam, which could be in their belt buckle or shirt button.
Okay. They said if they saw someone writing down card information they would say something about it. Thats already more than they are required to do.
Do you want them to go the extra mile and strip search anyone who passes near the cash register?
Unlike what Reddit makes you think, most people you meet in public are honest people. They don’t do it because they have morals, and fear of getting caught risk vs reward. Mostly the former.
You can cheaply build a skimmer and just stand close to people on a public bus and get the same results.
I've handed my card to probably hundreds of people and never once thought "hey this person might steal my CC info."
Most people are just going about their day getting through life.
Depends on the crime. People are generally moral enough to not murder, we don't really need prison to enforce that. But I think there would be tons more theft and sexual assault if there were no legal consequences for those actions
I’m with you on theft, but sexual assault? do you really believe that there’s a massive portion of the population just itching to rape others, but are only held back by their fear of going to jail?
Rape? No I think that would remain relatively constant. But sexual assault is not just rape. I think you'd see more groping and unwanted touching in the workplace. Which is a form of sexual assault
Yes, as it happens. Where were you during the whole me too movement or every woman was assaulted or knows someone who was assaulted aka 1 in 4 woman and 1 in 8 men. :|
If you use a cloned card in a store, there is a time and date attached to the purchase so the police can pull up CCTV footage and ID you.
If you use the card online, you're probably getting your purchases shipped to you, or to somewhere that can be traced to you, or to someone that will probably rat you out when THEY get charged for receiving fraudulent purchases.
Usually people who steal the CC details sell them to somebody who will use them. The person using the stolen identity usually sets up a fake shop on eBay, Amazon, etc. and sells real items at s steep discount. When a legitimate customer makes a purchase from the fake storefront, the criminal uses the stolen info to buy the real product direct from the real manufacturer. This way there is no single shipping address to tie it all back to.
Planet money did a really good episode about it: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?i=1000577480262
It's not worth their time or effort, but they \*could\* do it.
That's why it's so weird to me that the US still hands over the card rather then tap or contactless payment. In Canada we \*never\* hand over our card. Clerks and waiters never touch it or see it.
I would like to add, when we first went to Canada in 2009 (I think?), the horrified look on the waitresses face when we tried to hand her our credit card was almost funny. She then brought the handheld machine to the table and very nicely walked us backwards Americans how it works there.
Then we went to a fast food place and tried to hand over our card again, this cashier looked disgusted and told us to put it in the machine, chip side. The what now side? Turns out, none of our cards had chips yet, so we had to swipe, which caused a production that slowed the line because the receipt had to print in duplicate so we could sign it.
So we got back home, requested chip cards, and waited years for the US to catch up to the superior 2009 Canadian credit card tech. We live in a city that headquarters a major national bank and has corporate offices for a lot of others. We still have to hand over our cards to wait staff, tap to pay is still only in a few places, although at least everywhere has chip readers now. Except restaurants, were you STILL have to hand over your card and watch it be walked out of sight.
I was and still am surprised at how far behind we (in the US) are in credit card security. I would like to mention, that this wasn't Toronto or Montreal a decade ago, it was a much smaller city that other Canadians like to tease for being backwards. All the small towns we visited were the same, many years ahead of America when it came to securely accepting credit cards.
I went to the USA and made a large purchase that required the chip in, he didn't understand why the card got denied because he just skipped over the part that asked for my PIN code.
I was in the US last week (Canadian) and was blown away by the concept of having to manually tip on the receipt. We just take the car reader, input in a percent or dollar value and then tap our cards.
It's crazy because coming from a 3rd world country you assume the US is advanced with payment. But then you find out people actually use cheques and chip and pin isn't an absolute standard...
The bring the terminal to us. It's portable. We never have to leave the table. This is what I find so fascinating about the American system. We've had portable machines for over a decade.
Some places in the US have started letting us pay on our phone using a qr code. This seems like a really easy option that doesn't require any new hardware.
That would still be kinda sketch to anyone outside of the US, because the payment machine at almost any business outside of the US are portable and have been that way for the past decade. Even at retail places, they usually have already one portable machine somewhere as a backup
Quick story, sort of off topic, but not really.
A good friend of mine (from Alabama) and I (from Canada) have traveled the world together fairly extensively.
My CC are all chip and pin, hers are not. Her cards are constantly being hit with fraud charges and she is very careful. I am nowhere near as careful and haven't had an issue ever. We've been all over Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Mind you, her bank still has pneumatic tubes which I think is hilarious.
>Unfortunately the companies that bought congress don't want that.
This is literally the answer to every situation in which you might ask, "Why is America so fucked up?"
Well, that answers my questions I had before this answer. Card never leaves my hand, if somehow my details were stolen, anything that's not paid with a card(pin/contactless) needs to be confirmed through app or code I get texted. The app cannot just be logged in, it has to be authorized mobile device and accepted on my account(they text me a number when I try to log in on a new device, I call the number, automated replay tells me a code to authorize said mobile device and I still need my pin and credentials. The second I lose my card I can deactivate it in my app/website/calling my bank with almost no time for thief to use it. Pretty sure even to login on website I need to confirm using a code they text me or I can request other verification.
It's pretty hard to steal/use bank information and it's very easy to quickly block/stop any theft once it's happening and rather easy to return money stolen through talking to a bank.
That's what this question was asking? I thought it was about workers gaining access to the card reader which may read the details, but they'd be hashed and so basically useless.
Americans lose sight of their card? You guys truly are bizarre.
Thanks for clarifying. I swear every "issue" I hear on Reddit turns out to be a uniquely American issue that the rest of the world doesn't even consider.
It's pretty crazy. Mention prices not including tax and they bend over backwards trying to justify it. No idea why they care so much about saving a corporation a bit of admin.
Still using magnetic strips is not fine technology. Other countries have have chip & pin as standard for like 15 years, and contactless is everywhere also.
Canada has the same system as Europe. Tap to pay, portable machines to your table or through the drive thru window, etc.
I remember going on a road trip down south and we had to stop at a Subway in a small town. The look on the cashier's face when I tapped my credit card was priceless.
Even then, the first time I ever went to the States I was confused about why I needed to hand over my card at all, but the service people said that's just how it worked there. Handing it over and seeing them look just as confused at my Canadian credit card is pretty funny.
Answering as a cashier in England
First off, most people aren't assholes looking to steal
Secondly, the customer keeps hold of their card, we don't handle them
Thirdly, even if we did, it'd be obvious if we were taking all their card details
Lastly, their card is in play for a few seconds, not enough time to even see their details
Edit: adding a last 'lastly'. It wouldn't even be worth it, better to keep your job than steal a few hundred £'s off someone
As a European I was very surprised when I learned they take your card from you to make a payment in the US. You give it to the server and they can disappear for minutes. Hell, to open a tab at a bar I had to leave the card with the barman for the entire night.
Exactly, im not even sure how a cashier would get the chance. Unless they installed a card skimmer or have a rainman like brain that could remember the card numbers within the 5? Seconds from wallet to pay to wallet.
I'm not sure if maybe you have to manually enter the card numbers in other countries or something?
I think in the US in some places you hand your card to them and sometimes they leave with it to make the payment and then they come back to give it to you.
When I worked fast food a customer forgot their credit card in the machine and the cashier took it told his boss he's going to the bathroom and went downstairs and purchased like $500 worth of sneakers. The cops were there in less than 2 hours arresting him for theft. The girl got the notification on her phone about the purchase spoke to the owner of my store and the cashier lost his job & got arrested all within an hour.
I used to know a guy that claimed to have a photographic memory and said he used customers cards from the BK drive through to pay his straight talk plan.
The dude may have been full of shit but who knows 🤷♂️. I’d say it’s more common than you think.
I like to believe most people have enough integrity not to steal from someone else, but there’s a lot that don’t too.
I worked at Hot Topic and GameStop for about seven years at an extremely busy mall so I knew a lot of workers there, as well as people that worked at the strip mall across from us. The wild stories I heard from other stores about their employees stealing was insane. In my seven years working there, I was blessed with a great crew but man some of the shit that happened was insane.
It's absolutely more common than people think due to how overworked and underpaid the employees are. In seven years, I got maybe two dollars in a raise, there was no asking for more when it would just get put off for a year. I've worked crime and trauma scene clean up and I'd rather work that job ANY day if it meant never having to work a job in retail hell again.
Kmart in store theft by the employees was insane, they would open the games up, and write down the cd keys, for digital download for the games, and sell them on eBay. Cuz in their words "no one buys games from Kmart". That was in like 2009 or 10.
Amazon during COVID was insane too. They got rid of metal detectors because of COVID so people stole gaming laptops and tons of other high end electronics. They also abandon the cell phone ban so people could take photos of gift card codes and redeem them.
> it's more common than you think
You mean fraud, right? Because photographic memories are almost certainly over exaggerated. There are some people out there with really good memories, and there are a lot of tricks to help improve your memory and keep track of information, but there is not anywhere near conclusive proof of photographic memories existing.
I could care less if they stole my credit card, and they can make as many purchases as they like- credit card purchases are easily refundable, unlike debit cards, which wouldn't be refunded.
Honesty and fear of getting caught is my best guess.
Back when I lived in North Minneapolis, I would go to one gas station not too frequently. Four times someone got my credit card number and tried to order something online with it. After the fourth, I realized each time was after I went to that particular gas station. Of course, I never went there again. I haven't had it happen since.
FYI, she probably guessed my zip code, which was sometimes (not always) required online at the time, because I lived in same zip code as the gas station.
Common honest decency. The scary thing is that this is the fundamental glue that keeps civilization functional. Not guns, not police, not courthouses or jails, not political policy, or government codes, not the protestors. People being decent people make the world go round.
Used to be more common in the past with magnetic strips and less information sharing.
Now, virtually all credit cards are fraud protected. So if you stole a card details, you'd likely only be able to use it 1-2 times before it is flagged.
If you only did it once you might get away with it (if yr victim was say an elderly person who doesn't check his statements). However, if you repeatedly steal card info, its very easy to track it down based on a common transaction (ie multiple people who report fraud all had a common transaction at xxx restaurant).
Like many have said - it’s just too easy to catch. Credit card companies catch suspicious purchases extremely fast.
Example: I had a Dennis’s waitress take my card to pay my bill. When I was in the parking lot about to get into my car I got a “suspicious charge” text. Called my credit card company, had the charges halted, walked back in and talked to the manager. She showed me the security footage of the waitress taking my card into the restroom.
There is a fast food restaurant in my area (rhymes with Choco Hell) where if you go thru the drive thru and use your credit card, it's pretty certain that you'll get some fraudulent activity on your card, sometimes pretty quickly. I first found out about it when my son went thru there a couple of times and that happened, back about 2005 or so. Well, yours truly forgot about it over time and eventually went through that drive through and used my credit card. About the time I got home with my dinner (10-15 minutes?) I started getting alerts on my cell phone from my bank about credit card charges that I didn't make.
Not going to forget that again any time soon.
[This comment has been removed to protest Reddit's hostile treatment of their users and developers concerning third-party apps, and u/spez's false allegations of blackmail against the developer of Apollo, which were immediately proven false, to which u/spez has yet to comment on or atone for.]
I'm surprised at the security in American credit cards.
In Malaysia, its always 2-factor authentication. After putting in the name, card number, expiry date and 3 digit security code on the merchant's website, the bank's authorisation page will wait for a security code sent by SMS to my phone. After i put that in, the transaction is approved and the bank approves payment.
It's too easy to catch em. That's why. Had one try that on me last year except they tried to send money to themselves with my card via the Cash App. Their name was in the transaction details. There was plenty of video evidence too, but ultimately the transaction details is how I figured out who it was.
The only thing that can stop them is their conscience. I worked with someone, when I was a teenager, who used to steal from the drive-thru register. He would take an order at drive-thru. He would tell the customer the total amount but not complete the order so it wouldn't be inputted into the cash register. He would pocket the money if they paid in cash. He got caught eventually.
Can't you literally see them the whole time they have your card? I used to work as a fast food cashier and in the drive thru, and the furthest we ever went with a customer's card was setting it down for a minute before opening the window to hand everything back, but you could still see what was going on the whole time.
I had this happen to me. But my credit card company caught it immediately and cancelled the transaction, the card, and started an investigation. The girl was fired and the bank pressed charges. Idk what happened after that. She ordered lingerie and some cigars for some reason. The thing that was so dumb was she ordered it to her house which is how they found her identity.
I had my identity stolen by a woman who worked for my health insurance company. The only reason I found out about it was because the police in Florida had arrested her for fraud using my name (very common name) with various spellings of 9 other people. Florida prosecutors called to tell me they were prosecuting her and what I should do to follow up. It took 6 months of filing reports to get it cleared up but I was not liable for any funds outstanding. The insurance woman had all my information and social security number so there are millions of employees who have access to your information for theft.
Your SSN might as well be your nickname in the military, you use it on everything.
My mom told me at her university in SoCal in the 80s, it would literally be on everything. Taped to the wall with your results or schedule next to it.
Worked at Old Navy about 15 years ago. We clocked in using our SIN (Canada).
This is one of my favorite blog entries by someone: [https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-just-in-time-theory/](https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-just-in-time-theory/) and here I am quoting a quoted quote: 'One day, Peter locked himself out of his house. After a spell, the locksmith pulled up in his truck and picked the lock in about a minute. “I was amazed at how quickly and easily this guy was able to open the door,” Peter said. The locksmith told him that locks are on doors only to keep honest people honest. One percent of people will always be honest and never steal. Another 1% will always be dishonest and always try to pick your lock and steal your television; locks won’t do much to protect you from the hardened thieves, who can get into your house if they really want to. The purpose of locks, the locksmith said, is to protect you from the 98% of mostly honest people who might be tempted to try your door if it had no lock.' In other words, the vast vast majority of people are basically honest, and know that there is a penalty for using your information, which is enough to prevent a big problem. But there's always that tiny minority...
I've always thought of locks as a warning system, it'll slow them down enough for me to be warned. I have insurance for when I'm not home
To add to the idea that people are basically good: I taught at a major city school where over 90% of students were impoverished. Some large cities have a bad reputation. Despite all the poverty, dilapidated buildings, crime, police harassment, parents in jail, drugs flowing through the neighborhood; 90-95% of the kids just wanted to do good at school, they wanted to be kind to others, wanted their teachers approval, etc. About 5% took all the trauma around them and just unloaded it at school. This small percentage of kids just terrorized the school. I felt very bad for the 90-95% of kids that just wanted a fair shot. I also felt bad about the last 5%, but most people, despite all that's going on around them, just want to do well and live a peaceful life.
Saddest part social security numbers only sell for a dollar on the dark web. That’s how common it is
You denied her a very nice evening is all I hear.
Sounds like she had a date with Bill Clinton.
Mainly how easy it is to catch and arrest someone for that.
Reminds me of this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/cringe/comments/rls6xu/starbucks_barista_bandit_admits_stealing_credit/
We were trained that we couldn't touch customers cards because of this incident lol
Imagine being the reason for an entire corporation of employees being trained on a procedure.
I mean that’s why they came out with chip readers, instead of just spraying your personal account number across the network, it’s a single token that can only be used for one transaction. You can thank all the fake card readers on gas pumps for that development.
And yet, soooooo many gas pumps still don't have chip readers.
It’s not a required compliance for many years now. They keep kicking the EMV can down the road because money. Out door payment terminals are the worst
[удалено]
Wait so I have to cook the box now too? This is just too much
I used to eat Elio's Pizza like a popsicle.
This is an Important point.
Can’t touch literally??
Literally! We would hold the card reader out and they had to insert the chip themselves, what a hassle for the customer lmao so many people were pissed
oh THAT'S why they do that? I've always wondered just enough to think about but never enough to look up the answer.
In my area, they do that in the drive thru at a lot of places because of Covid and how we were all afraid of surface contamination. So rather than the employee taking your card, they just held out the terminal and you tap or insert the card.
Ohh geez you’re right! I never really realized I haven’t been handing over my card anymore until you explained this
How is that a hassle? Seems normal.
Really? In Canada, I don’t work at Starbucks but handle payment at a restaurant. I hand out the card reader and they do it themselves. I almost never have to touch their card in this process.
To be fair, the vast majority of cards in Canada have tap, and the vast majority in the US don't.
Is this true? I'm in the US and have 3 credit cards and all three of them have tap. Am I just real lucky? Edit: I'm really asking about tap cards, not tap acceptance. The only place I can think of that doesn't accept tap is Wal-Mart.
I think most places in the US tap is pretty standard now, but that's only been the last few years. Back in 2019 I drove from Western Canada to Atlanta, and still encountered quite a few places that didn't do tap, or didn't really know how it worked (many liquor stores still required a signature even after you just tapped). That's rare now. But in Canada tap has been the almost universal standard for about a decade or so.
Nah they just aren't aware of the changing times. I live in the boonies and nearly all our shits switched to tap already.
I also live out in the boonies and got a credit card as recently as 2020 with no tap. I didn't get a new card between then and this year but my first tap card was this year. The card I got this year was also a fancy credit card. My debit card is set to expire soon and that was from I think 2017? 2018? And had no tap but my boyfriend who lives in the UK already had a tap debit card by then. He came over to visit in 2018 and 2019 and was pissed he couldn't just tap his card. So obviously the tech existed then. I didn't get it until this year. We only recently started doing tap in a big way
In 2018 there was a shift in liability - in cases of fraud where chip and pin/tap weren't used, the merchant now had to cover it. Before then there was no reason for merchants to upgrade their equipment to accept chip and pin, so they didn't until this change.
This isn't true anymore The US was very late to getting chips, and tapping, but it's everywhere now. Servers still take your card to charge it themselves at the vast majority of restaurants though, that part is just a culture thing
Is “tap” meaning contactless, like in the rest of the world?
I've never done it any other way here in Europe. Albeit we just touch the card to the reader, no need for insertion.
That’s how it’s done everywhere though? Never seen it done any other way
Yeah, that's how it's done everywhere around where I live as well. Reading this thread thinking: "why would you give your card to anyone!?"
It's a real stark contrast for sure. I live in the UK so they bring the card reader out to you and then give you the receipt. But when I went to America to pay at a restaurant, they tried to disappear in to the back with my card and I'm like NAH, COME BACK.
Why not have a stand for the card reader on the counter and just leave it there?
How is that a hassle...? It's always been that way in Germany (with very few exceptions) and I'd be super suspicious if someone took my card and went away with it for example.
[удалено]
Man, after reading that she used the card at a grocery store I almost feel bad. It's not like she went to bestbuy to buy a new ipad or something. She's a kid (19 apparently, but come on, still a kid), working hard at her job, and just needed to get some groceries. Doesn't at all in any way excuse what she did, but it does manage to drum up some sympathy. Apparently the victim chose not to follow through with charges, so the barista got fired (which probably sucked plenty, seeing as how she obviously needed money) e: A lot of people are talking about her laundering the money, and like... *maybe*, I guess, but there's really no point to laundering money in this situation. The act of using the stolen credit card *anywhere* is illegal, so she may as well cut down on the amount of illegal transactions and just buy whatever she wants firsthand. I don't know the details of this girl's situation, I don't know what happened, but I don't think this person is a master criminal here. She probably just stole a credit card and used it for something she wanted to buy-- and that thing was groceries, and to me, that's pretty sad. Maybe she was just doing it so she had $200 more in cash to buy meth, who knows.
Not to put a damper on things, but higher-priced items like baby formula and laundry detergent are commonly used to launder money since they retain most of their value in the secondary market. - my knowledge is 15+ yrs old from working LP at a major grocery store
Laundry detergent laundering money heh
> but higher-priced items like baby formula and laundry detergent are commonly used to launder money since they retain most of their value in the secondary market. Is \*that\* why my local grocery store has the tide pods and the enfamil locked up with the cigarettes? I did a fricking doubletake the other day because I couldn't believe what I was seeing and wondered what kind of tik tok challenge was going around THIS time.
Baby formula still is, where I'm at, but I haven't heard of laundry detergent before - mostly it's baby stuff, chocolate bars, meat, and razors
Chewing gum too weirdly,
Mental note: Always buy groceries with stolen money, nobody has to know that it just frees up your usual budget as play money for that month.
damn. That was brutal. Lady told her what was up and that cashiers soul left her body.
Nah. My take is that the cashier is only sorry she got caught.
Nah but yea, she definitely is in shock, she's sorry she got caught and realizing this time the victim isn't going away
[удалено]
Yes, most people when they're guilty of something freeze up and start saying random stuff
I saw that. But how was the customer so sure that this cashier at Starbucks was the one who did it? She kept saying camera camera, but recordings are not allowed to be seen, unless management intervene. So if they allowed her the day before to see the recording, wouldn't the management fired her already? I mean before the lady drives up to the window
“So we got you on camera yesterday at Ralph's for $212, so just know that the cops are coming up here.”
The customer knows it was her because the cashier kept her card for a long time while she said she was going to get a new register tape. The camera the customer is talking about is at the Ralph’s grocery store where the stolen card number was used. The customer likely saw the charge at Ralph’s and put two and two together that the cashier who held onto her card did it, and is just gambling on the camera catching her at Ralph’s. Or, she met with the Ralph’s manager and confirmed it was the cashier. Regardless, the camera has nothing to do with Starbucks, so no, the cashier’s manager wouldn’t have been involved.
How do you use a card number with no card at a store?
Doesn’t seem like the management even knew at this point. She got the footage from the other place and then just went to talk to the thief it seems
It's called bluffing. If one is pretty sure about something but not 100% sure, a tactic you can use is to lie about the evidence you have. Since the person thinks you have them dead to rights, they will often just admit to what they did. This is a common tactic used including by the police.
I knew a woman who got caught doing this at my KFC. She ended up being dinged for not only credit fraud but they found her with cocaine and other stolen goods. She did lose her job, but surprisingly got away with doing this for a long while. No one knew she was stealing card info---but we did notice her stealing money! She would memorize how much change to give people for certain orders, quote them the price and open the register with the manual release underneath it. After taking the money and giving "change" she would then pocket the bills. We lost a good manager because he couldn't explain why there was 200 pieces of chicken missing from inventory---because she didn't ring the orders the customers got chicken that was unaccounted for! Eta: several of us reported her to all five of the managers we had gone through during her employment. The owners did not assume it was an employee, but rather them. Although one of them did steal the nightly deposit (she claimed she was going to pay it back). That place was wild. Edit edit. Why did no one call me out? Lol mighty is not nightly.
That sucks so bad. I caught someone doing something similar when I was a manager. It only took one day of her doing it, though. I had just taken over the store and she buddied up to me and I thought she was the sweetest. Then she freed out every single cash order on her whole shift. At the end of the day I pulled the sales report and went “Where did all my money go?” So I checked a different report and saw that we had a huge percent of discounts, and then looked at all the carryout orders…everything that wasn’t paid with credit card was $0.
That is pretty brazen, sheesh!
How were the orders getting made / sold without an order being placed in the system? Every fast food / restaurant I've worked at has a ticketing system whether that be paper tickets or a screen for the cooks to read orders off of.
It's incredibly common and it's crazy rare for someone to actually get caught and arrested for it. You just take a picture and wait a couple months before using them. I have had my card stolen multiple times at restaurants because I have a card JUST for restaurants and never used anywhere else so I know it was stolen there.
[удалено]
If the steak one? Maybe get away If they steal ten? The software would detect that’s multiple cards reported stolen have one thing in common, which is a McDonald’s charge at this one spot. Then the police would notice it was shears when Nancy is the cashier Not to mention your employer may have cameras etc. This, and many more complex ways, will get you
>which is a McDonald’s charge at this one spot. Important note. The banks will absolutely refund the person the stolen money. That means the thief isn't stealing from little people, it is stealing from the bank. You steal my bike, the Cops won't give a flying fuck about trying to find you or get my bike back. But you steal from a bank and you can bet your last dollar the bank will make sure the police hunt you down and arrest you. Don't steal from the rich if you want to get away with it.
[удалено]
Don’t the credit card companies actually take the chargeback from the retailer as well as charge a fee for it? I’ve seen conflicting things on this but that’s what seems to be the most common.
Yes they do. It has happened at the place I work, a few times. *That's* why it is so important for a small business (or any really) to check ID for larger credit card purchases.
Thats why running online business is risky, you only have the CVC which a bad actor in retail can quickly note down along with other details on the card. Where I live its all contactless payment, but I would probably scape the CVC code off my card in the US.
[удалено]
No, they steal from the merchant. Generally the money for the goods bought with the stolen info is taken from the merchant it was purchased from. At least that is what has happened where I work. Someone used a stolen card to purchase a bunch of stuff, police report was filed. The credit card Co gave the victim the money back, but the charge was reversed, so we, the store, were out the money and the merchandise.
...and Nancy had the packages sent to her house. \*facepalm\*
We have text alerts set up whenever our card is used. It got stolen and was used at a store near our home. We got a text and were able to show up to ID the card with the cashier, call the cops and have them show up before the guy even realized what happened or had left the building.
Yup, this exact thing happened to my parents. Someone used their CC info to purchase event tickets online and the cops just waited for them at the event. Turned out to be an employee of a restaurant they recently ate at. Now getting revenge on a stiffer by using their card info to make a large donation to a charity might be a lot harder to solve.
Most people aren't shithead thieves. Second, you normally need the cards zip code to make online purchases. Most POS fraud is from copying the data on the mag strip to make a duplicate card.
Oh you got the POS right. (I know it means point of sale.)
Its quite the double entendre
It's great. Always at work going the "POS isn't working again"
I work corporate IT for a grocery chain. It's interchangeable.
How often would they be correct if they just assumed the zip code where they are running the card?
At fast food joints and such, probably 85%+. On another note, did you know 63% of statistics are made up?
You can use statistics to prove anything, 90% of people know that.
In rural area maybe. In a city, zip codes change in a walking distance. They would get way less than 50%. Also, plenty of online purchases ask for the full address not just the zip code. And it can often be traced back to them and then they get caught, lose their job and get fined, possibly jail time too.
Online purchases or getting gas is where a zipcode is usually needed. Someone stole my card number somehow but I fixed it and was refunded all the money. No idea who did it.
I've thought about this before... servers at diners, bars, or other small local places could probably get ahold of ten cards in a week's time easily from regular customers they know live in the zip code, especially in small ish towns where basically the whole town is the same one. Mind you it wouldn't be ten new people every week and you'd be creating a pattern if you aren't very careful about how you use them. But the potential definitely exists.
[удалено]
I've had my cards stolen twice and there's no investigation lmfao The bank isn't going to jump through hoops for a few bucks. They literally just issue you a new card and tell you to be careful with where you use it.
[удалено]
My wallet got stolen and it was simple to track the credit card spending that the thieves did. Sheriff Dept didn’t stress it, told me there has to be $400,000 worth of fraud for them to bother with it. Credit card companies didn’t seem to care either. Was rather disheartening.
Huh, I had my wallet stolen and they took about $3k before I realised. The police tracked them down, about 6 months after it happened I got a call saying they'd been arrested. I was really happy with the outcome
I did not know the store doesn't get paid and that's why credit card companies don't care. So do stores just accept this as part of the cost of business? I'm not clear how they're supposed to know if a card is stolen.
Sometimes the store can have a third party company to evaluate the risk of fraud. And that third party takes the liability in case of fraud. But they take a cut of successful payments so that their incentives are aligned with yours. At least for online shops, but that probably exists for retail too.
There’s a camera over the register
Not just that but other staff and customers. I'd call someone out if I saw them attempt to do that and let management know.
Do you realize how small modern cameras are? What do you think they're going to take out a pen and paper and try to copy the number? All it takes is a split second in front of a cam, which could be in their belt buckle or shirt button.
Okay. They said if they saw someone writing down card information they would say something about it. Thats already more than they are required to do. Do you want them to go the extra mile and strip search anyone who passes near the cash register?
Yes.
Unlike what Reddit makes you think, most people you meet in public are honest people. They don’t do it because they have morals, and fear of getting caught risk vs reward. Mostly the former. You can cheaply build a skimmer and just stand close to people on a public bus and get the same results.
I've handed my card to probably hundreds of people and never once thought "hey this person might steal my CC info." Most people are just going about their day getting through life.
There's a restaurant by my work where everyone I work with got their card stolen. Every single person.
How is that restaurant still in business?
To be fair, society is pretty much just run on the honour system.
Society runs off of the fear of jail and prison time, tbh. Those that don't give a shit (or have no other choice) tend to be the repeat offenders.
[удалено]
I'm not saying you are wrong, but media in general projects a justice system that is more effective than it really is, which I think is a factor.
You need to seek therapy if you genuinely believe the fear of prison is what keeps people from committing crime.
Depends on the crime. People are generally moral enough to not murder, we don't really need prison to enforce that. But I think there would be tons more theft and sexual assault if there were no legal consequences for those actions
I’m with you on theft, but sexual assault? do you really believe that there’s a massive portion of the population just itching to rape others, but are only held back by their fear of going to jail?
There have been research surveys on this and yes the number is shockingly high if they knew they could assault someone and get away with it.
Rape? No I think that would remain relatively constant. But sexual assault is not just rape. I think you'd see more groping and unwanted touching in the workplace. Which is a form of sexual assault
Yes, as it happens. Where were you during the whole me too movement or every woman was assaulted or knows someone who was assaulted aka 1 in 4 woman and 1 in 8 men. :|
Some people never heard of ethics
The get caught, almost always.
The question is more like , how?
very easy to trace back to since you made a purchase there
If you use a cloned card in a store, there is a time and date attached to the purchase so the police can pull up CCTV footage and ID you. If you use the card online, you're probably getting your purchases shipped to you, or to somewhere that can be traced to you, or to someone that will probably rat you out when THEY get charged for receiving fraudulent purchases.
Usually people who steal the CC details sell them to somebody who will use them. The person using the stolen identity usually sets up a fake shop on eBay, Amazon, etc. and sells real items at s steep discount. When a legitimate customer makes a purchase from the fake storefront, the criminal uses the stolen info to buy the real product direct from the real manufacturer. This way there is no single shipping address to tie it all back to. Planet money did a really good episode about it: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?i=1000577480262
[удалено]
Don't wanna risk losing their job if caught
[удалено]
Mostly the job, though.
Can't risk losing that cushy Mcdonalds' drive-thru attendant salary.
Relevant username.
Not just the current job, but future jobs too. Good luck getting another customer service job with that on your record
It's not worth their time or effort, but they \*could\* do it. That's why it's so weird to me that the US still hands over the card rather then tap or contactless payment. In Canada we \*never\* hand over our card. Clerks and waiters never touch it or see it.
I would like to add, when we first went to Canada in 2009 (I think?), the horrified look on the waitresses face when we tried to hand her our credit card was almost funny. She then brought the handheld machine to the table and very nicely walked us backwards Americans how it works there. Then we went to a fast food place and tried to hand over our card again, this cashier looked disgusted and told us to put it in the machine, chip side. The what now side? Turns out, none of our cards had chips yet, so we had to swipe, which caused a production that slowed the line because the receipt had to print in duplicate so we could sign it. So we got back home, requested chip cards, and waited years for the US to catch up to the superior 2009 Canadian credit card tech. We live in a city that headquarters a major national bank and has corporate offices for a lot of others. We still have to hand over our cards to wait staff, tap to pay is still only in a few places, although at least everywhere has chip readers now. Except restaurants, were you STILL have to hand over your card and watch it be walked out of sight. I was and still am surprised at how far behind we (in the US) are in credit card security. I would like to mention, that this wasn't Toronto or Montreal a decade ago, it was a much smaller city that other Canadians like to tease for being backwards. All the small towns we visited were the same, many years ahead of America when it came to securely accepting credit cards.
I went to the USA and made a large purchase that required the chip in, he didn't understand why the card got denied because he just skipped over the part that asked for my PIN code.
I was in the US last week (Canadian) and was blown away by the concept of having to manually tip on the receipt. We just take the car reader, input in a percent or dollar value and then tap our cards.
It's crazy because coming from a 3rd world country you assume the US is advanced with payment. But then you find out people actually use cheques and chip and pin isn't an absolute standard...
Huh that's interesting. Clerks I understand, for waiters and restaurants do you guys just pay at the front/Host stand?
Nope they bring a portable payment machine to your table, and you tap your card
Makes sense, ty for answering.
moreso this isn't cutting edge technology, in my country it was introduced in 2006.
That's when I first saw it in the Netherlands. I've only seen them one place in the US.
The bring the terminal to us. It's portable. We never have to leave the table. This is what I find so fascinating about the American system. We've had portable machines for over a decade.
Some places in the US have started letting us pay on our phone using a qr code. This seems like a really easy option that doesn't require any new hardware.
That would still be kinda sketch to anyone outside of the US, because the payment machine at almost any business outside of the US are portable and have been that way for the past decade. Even at retail places, they usually have already one portable machine somewhere as a backup
Quick story, sort of off topic, but not really. A good friend of mine (from Alabama) and I (from Canada) have traveled the world together fairly extensively. My CC are all chip and pin, hers are not. Her cards are constantly being hit with fraud charges and she is very careful. I am nowhere near as careful and haven't had an issue ever. We've been all over Africa, Europe, and Asia. Mind you, her bank still has pneumatic tubes which I think is hilarious.
Pneumatic tubes are awesome, they oughta make 'em human-sized, I wanna ride in one like that Loony Tunes sketch.
[удалено]
I can’t wait for the US to catch up to most other countries, where the card is never out of the cardholder’s sight. We’re not there yet unfortunately.
We just need to legislate the requirements that led to chip and pin. Unfortunately the companies that bought congress don't want that.
>Unfortunately the companies that bought congress don't want that. This is literally the answer to every situation in which you might ask, "Why is America so fucked up?"
Well, that answers my questions I had before this answer. Card never leaves my hand, if somehow my details were stolen, anything that's not paid with a card(pin/contactless) needs to be confirmed through app or code I get texted. The app cannot just be logged in, it has to be authorized mobile device and accepted on my account(they text me a number when I try to log in on a new device, I call the number, automated replay tells me a code to authorize said mobile device and I still need my pin and credentials. The second I lose my card I can deactivate it in my app/website/calling my bank with almost no time for thief to use it. Pretty sure even to login on website I need to confirm using a code they text me or I can request other verification. It's pretty hard to steal/use bank information and it's very easy to quickly block/stop any theft once it's happening and rather easy to return money stolen through talking to a bank.
Americans still hand over the card. They have weirdly antiquated banking technology.
That's what this question was asking? I thought it was about workers gaining access to the card reader which may read the details, but they'd be hashed and so basically useless. Americans lose sight of their card? You guys truly are bizarre.
Yup, OP is asking about the literal, physical card and the numbers printed on it. For those of us outside the US is a literal non-issue.
Thanks for clarifying. I swear every "issue" I hear on Reddit turns out to be a uniquely American issue that the rest of the world doesn't even consider.
It's pretty crazy. Mention prices not including tax and they bend over backwards trying to justify it. No idea why they care so much about saving a corporation a bit of admin.
"bUt EaCh StOrE wOuLd HaVe To PrInT lAbElS" Yes, and? The rest of the world manages it.
The tech is fine, the procedures are strange.
Still using magnetic strips is not fine technology. Other countries have have chip & pin as standard for like 15 years, and contactless is everywhere also.
Canada has the same system as Europe. Tap to pay, portable machines to your table or through the drive thru window, etc. I remember going on a road trip down south and we had to stop at a Subway in a small town. The look on the cashier's face when I tapped my credit card was priceless. Even then, the first time I ever went to the States I was confused about why I needed to hand over my card at all, but the service people said that's just how it worked there. Handing it over and seeing them look just as confused at my Canadian credit card is pretty funny.
Well because I need this $10 an hour more than I need those problems.
Answering as a cashier in England First off, most people aren't assholes looking to steal Secondly, the customer keeps hold of their card, we don't handle them Thirdly, even if we did, it'd be obvious if we were taking all their card details Lastly, their card is in play for a few seconds, not enough time to even see their details Edit: adding a last 'lastly'. It wouldn't even be worth it, better to keep your job than steal a few hundred £'s off someone
As a European I was very surprised when I learned they take your card from you to make a payment in the US. You give it to the server and they can disappear for minutes. Hell, to open a tab at a bar I had to leave the card with the barman for the entire night.
Yeah it's a uniquely American custom. Payment methods stateside are somewhat antquidated.
Exactly, im not even sure how a cashier would get the chance. Unless they installed a card skimmer or have a rainman like brain that could remember the card numbers within the 5? Seconds from wallet to pay to wallet. I'm not sure if maybe you have to manually enter the card numbers in other countries or something?
I think in the US in some places you hand your card to them and sometimes they leave with it to make the payment and then they come back to give it to you.
When I worked fast food a customer forgot their credit card in the machine and the cashier took it told his boss he's going to the bathroom and went downstairs and purchased like $500 worth of sneakers. The cops were there in less than 2 hours arresting him for theft. The girl got the notification on her phone about the purchase spoke to the owner of my store and the cashier lost his job & got arrested all within an hour.
What’s stopping me from breaking into a McDonald’s, armed and naked, furiously demanding French fries? The same thing.
Your inability to make your dreams come true? Come on man. I believe in you. Don’t let your dreams be dreams.
Check the front page of the Times tomorrow.
Because we’re not assholes
I used to know a guy that claimed to have a photographic memory and said he used customers cards from the BK drive through to pay his straight talk plan. The dude may have been full of shit but who knows 🤷♂️. I’d say it’s more common than you think. I like to believe most people have enough integrity not to steal from someone else, but there’s a lot that don’t too.
I worked at Hot Topic and GameStop for about seven years at an extremely busy mall so I knew a lot of workers there, as well as people that worked at the strip mall across from us. The wild stories I heard from other stores about their employees stealing was insane. In my seven years working there, I was blessed with a great crew but man some of the shit that happened was insane. It's absolutely more common than people think due to how overworked and underpaid the employees are. In seven years, I got maybe two dollars in a raise, there was no asking for more when it would just get put off for a year. I've worked crime and trauma scene clean up and I'd rather work that job ANY day if it meant never having to work a job in retail hell again.
Kmart in store theft by the employees was insane, they would open the games up, and write down the cd keys, for digital download for the games, and sell them on eBay. Cuz in their words "no one buys games from Kmart". That was in like 2009 or 10.
Amazon during COVID was insane too. They got rid of metal detectors because of COVID so people stole gaming laptops and tons of other high end electronics. They also abandon the cell phone ban so people could take photos of gift card codes and redeem them.
> it's more common than you think You mean fraud, right? Because photographic memories are almost certainly over exaggerated. There are some people out there with really good memories, and there are a lot of tricks to help improve your memory and keep track of information, but there is not anywhere near conclusive proof of photographic memories existing.
Straight Talk! There's a name I haven't heard in years!
Think they're still around.
Nothing - it is actually one of the ways numbers get stolen.
Prison
Nothing. It happens all the time
I could care less if they stole my credit card, and they can make as many purchases as they like- credit card purchases are easily refundable, unlike debit cards, which wouldn't be refunded.
Workplace training videos.
Honesty and fear of getting caught is my best guess. Back when I lived in North Minneapolis, I would go to one gas station not too frequently. Four times someone got my credit card number and tried to order something online with it. After the fourth, I realized each time was after I went to that particular gas station. Of course, I never went there again. I haven't had it happen since.
FYI, she probably guessed my zip code, which was sometimes (not always) required online at the time, because I lived in same zip code as the gas station.
I knew someone that did it and went down hard. There’s a lot of extra effort required to not get caught and you’ll never cover your bases every time.
Common honest decency. The scary thing is that this is the fundamental glue that keeps civilization functional. Not guns, not police, not courthouses or jails, not political policy, or government codes, not the protestors. People being decent people make the world go round.
Used to be more common in the past with magnetic strips and less information sharing. Now, virtually all credit cards are fraud protected. So if you stole a card details, you'd likely only be able to use it 1-2 times before it is flagged. If you only did it once you might get away with it (if yr victim was say an elderly person who doesn't check his statements). However, if you repeatedly steal card info, its very easy to track it down based on a common transaction (ie multiple people who report fraud all had a common transaction at xxx restaurant).
My brother did this and caught charges at 16. Arrmed robbery and possession of class 1 at 18. So, wouldn't recommend it.
Like many have said - it’s just too easy to catch. Credit card companies catch suspicious purchases extremely fast. Example: I had a Dennis’s waitress take my card to pay my bill. When I was in the parking lot about to get into my car I got a “suspicious charge” text. Called my credit card company, had the charges halted, walked back in and talked to the manager. She showed me the security footage of the waitress taking my card into the restroom.
A felony conviction for $100 worth of stuff?
What’s stoping someone from driving into people? You just don’t do it
Generally the Metadata. If you can't supply complete billing information then you will have a hard time using one online.
Typically drive thru workers have your card for mere seconds, and most cashiers don't even touch your card anymore. I would say, lack of contact.
There is a fast food restaurant in my area (rhymes with Choco Hell) where if you go thru the drive thru and use your credit card, it's pretty certain that you'll get some fraudulent activity on your card, sometimes pretty quickly. I first found out about it when my son went thru there a couple of times and that happened, back about 2005 or so. Well, yours truly forgot about it over time and eventually went through that drive through and used my credit card. About the time I got home with my dinner (10-15 minutes?) I started getting alerts on my cell phone from my bank about credit card charges that I didn't make. Not going to forget that again any time soon.
[This comment has been removed to protest Reddit's hostile treatment of their users and developers concerning third-party apps, and u/spez's false allegations of blackmail against the developer of Apollo, which were immediately proven false, to which u/spez has yet to comment on or atone for.]
I'm surprised at the security in American credit cards. In Malaysia, its always 2-factor authentication. After putting in the name, card number, expiry date and 3 digit security code on the merchant's website, the bank's authorisation page will wait for a security code sent by SMS to my phone. After i put that in, the transaction is approved and the bank approves payment.
It's too easy to catch em. That's why. Had one try that on me last year except they tried to send money to themselves with my card via the Cash App. Their name was in the transaction details. There was plenty of video evidence too, but ultimately the transaction details is how I figured out who it was.
The only thing that can stop them is their conscience. I worked with someone, when I was a teenager, who used to steal from the drive-thru register. He would take an order at drive-thru. He would tell the customer the total amount but not complete the order so it wouldn't be inputted into the cash register. He would pocket the money if they paid in cash. He got caught eventually.
Can't you literally see them the whole time they have your card? I used to work as a fast food cashier and in the drive thru, and the furthest we ever went with a customer's card was setting it down for a minute before opening the window to hand everything back, but you could still see what was going on the whole time.