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A major concern for cardholders, as well as
restaurants owners, is payment card skimming.
The primary issue on the minds of many customers is the resulting identity
theft caused in part by card skimming. The
operation is quite easy. You have just finished eating dinner at your
favourite restaurant. You hand the waiter your credit card. The waiter
returns a few minutes later with your credit card and receipt for the
meal. And that's it ! This is how a nice evening at a restaurant normally
ends but what you do not know is you have just become a victim of Identity
Theft.
| Skimming can occur anytime a credit card holder
loses sight of his or her credit card, and employees most often perpetrate
it. |
Unscrupulous wait staff or attendants use a small
magnetic stripe reader (small enough for employees to hide it in their
apron or pocket) to capture the encoded information from a consumer's
credit or check card. This information may include your name, address,
credit limit, and Personal Identification number. Crooks then re-encode
the captured card information and use it for making fraudulent purchases.
Many daily newspapers and Internet sites have already
reported incidents of card skimming. No restaurant owners or managers
want to read about their establishments in the local paper in reference
to skimming.
Credit card skimming
has become a worldwide problem as card losses due to skimming exceed
$1 billion a year.
PIN Based transactions
logistics / Fraud / Business
efficiency
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