I always hated that place and never understood why parents would take their kids there. It's the perfect location for a really good ice cream parlor. Instead, they sell cheap ice cream loaded with every food coloring and preservative you can think of.

jo and joe: just about every european country demands a pin number when using a credit or debit card. getting a bank account in france, for example, is a big deal--one must prove a source of income, and all taxable income gets into a bank via direct deposit. there is very little credit card fraud there, because you have to enter a pin each and every time. american banks would never abide by this, because no one regulates/requires them to do so. besides, fraud is good for the american banking industry--some people don't catch the erroneous charges, and pay for them, and others have to contest them 'till they're blue in the face, and STILL pay for them via high finance and account management charges.

# 24 correction: "Then I were charges on the next one."

I meant- Then there were unauthorized charges made on this account. I did get letters from the bank as an overdraft resulted. An affidavit was filled out and the charges were credited back to my account.

The banks are definitely NOT doing their part.

At one time, I had 3 active Chase debit/check cards. The first had "expired" and I was sent a replacement. Then I were charges on the next one. They sent me a new one with the same number. Finally the third one is OK for now. They had never cancelled the "expired" one.

Also, when signing onto Chase's banking site, the opening page is not secure. No lock/key, https, or anything until after you type in your ID and password. I told this to various Chase people. Finally, after a dozen mentions, someone gave me an address that is secure from the very first page. INCREDIBLE!!

Oops. I meant to reference comment #15, not 13

Re: Comment #13

I guess my two cents on this issue based on my part-time retail jobs is that:

1. I've never, ever received any form of official training on how to handle credit cards. Checking signatures doesn't seem to be a priority for retail companies at all, so a cashier probably has learned not to bother challenging a customer's signature because he/she knows that management probably will not back the employee up.

2. Despite that, I make sure to check all signatures, but it always surprises me that occasionally I get someone who gets angry at me for doing so. I guess those people don't care about protecting their credit cards.

I don't understand why I would have to pay someone else to ensure my identity isn't stolen. I keep my information safe, I check my bank and credit card statements every month. I expect the credit card companies to do the same. Shouldn't they be held accountable if they're issuing credit cards without performing any checks on the applicants? These companies should be more concerned about fraud and less about who they can get ensnared in credit card debt.

just wondering if the guy would then get slapped later by the IRS for 'earning all that money' on the sale of goods and services?

jo
what are you saying? the UK is better than the USA!!

In the UK, you now have to put in a PIN number to use your credit card.

When our credit card number was misused (I believe after a viit to a restaurant) I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the bank noticed the unusual charges, which were for a relatively small amount, and called to check if we had made them well before we got our statement.

Our dentist's billing clerk was indicted for charging $20-30 extra to patients' credit cards each month. She'd stolen tens of thousands of dollars before being apprehended.

A few years ago, we found Amtrak bills on our Amex card in the amount of over $2,000. (Obviously, this was an easy theft to catch, because the amount was so large.) Apparently, a clerk at a restaurant in Suffolk county had noted our card number and used it to pay for the tickets which, according to Amex, were mailed to another address (not ours) and later turned in or sold for cash.

Check those bills!

ya BUYER BEWARE!

Luckily for me, I've never had my identity stlolen but it has always alarmed a little that the signature on my credit card receipts is never checked against the signature on my credit card as far as I can tell. Especially in department store and the like. I can vaguely remember a time when store workers were much more assiduous about this. What's up with that?

I live in the neighborhood and regularly get coffee and etc at the Busy Chef. I was surprised this morning that they were not accepting credit cards/ debit cards and the clerk gave me my coffee for free as compensation for today. I thought it was pretty nice and then I heard this story... Definitley never using a card there again.

This is why I've become a semi-Luddite and always pay in cash whenever possible.

Overleveraged. Most restaurant ventures fail.

Who remembers David Ruggerio?

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EFD81731F931A25752C1A96E958260

Brian - I'm curious about that company Lifelock that has the advertisements that show the guy in the commercial's "actual" social security number. I know this is not directly related to credit cards, but is that real?

Restaurants often keep your card on file and simply ask for the last 4 digits. You can get worse odds at guessing the number with the lottery. Anyone who sees your card and knows where you order can simply call and give the last 4 numbers.

oh so the info at the top of the page was miss leading. how channel 9 news of u.

maybe he just needed to pay the mortgage on his mcmanion

I recently paid off an old debt (to a collection agency) with an AMEX card and 2 weeks later the collection agency "accidentally" charged the card for another $4000. It took a few days of phone calls from me and AMEX but they returned the money.

A $20,000 charge? What was he thinking?

Give all of the "free credit reports" out there and the advice that we should check regularly for possible identity fraud, any advice on which report to use?

pish posh, who has time to check credit cards statements, we have so many.

Brian, why do you think it doesn't happen all the time? where do you live?

When I was in Brazil, I noticed that credit cards were NEVER out of a person's sight. At gas stations and restaurants, they brought the credit card machine to the car or table on a plate and it was swiped right in front of you.

who uses a credit card to buy ice cream. it's like $3 per person