Electronic CC Fraud this morning

[felixrosbergen]

Actually if i recall in Europe on the wireless machines they bring to your table you also have to provide a 4 digit pin. Any CC issued by a european bank comes with one, but i am not sure about CC's issued to USA based banks.

Anyway the pin in combination with the card not being out of your sight and really the server not having enough time to jot down the numbers should help considerably i would think.

I like the idea of the Discover Deskhop and wish other CC companies would do something similar (maybe they and i'm just not aware). From what i understand not only is the specific generated CC number locked for that vendor, but if anybody else tries to use it it would also be very clear that the 'leak' came from that vendor since they were the only ones with that number on file...

 

[apostolakisl]

The credit card companies should create a paypal like system for all card-not-physically-present purchases. In that case a payment gets sent to the vendor after the customer requests it directly from the cc website rather then the vendor presenting an account number to a cc company along with a dollar amount. If the cc companies stopped accepting anything but a sent-from-their-own-website payment, the only way to have fraud online would be if someone get your paypal-type-accounts username and password. Copying your account number would no longer be of much value if the cc companies only accepted charges via their paypal-type-account or at a brick and mortar store when the card was actually present. And if you add a pin, then even physically stealing the card and going to a brick and mortar is useless.

 

[pete_c]

For many years (and today - works great for WAF) used a local flower shop to send flowers (30 years now). I call them for flowers delivered locally MW and for delivery in other states. I have an account and they bill me. About 2 years ago tried an internet FTD based delivery service.

On the first CC invoice after use of said service I noticed a flower shop "membership" charge. I called the company in question and they said when I ordered the flowers and upon agreement I was automatically enrolled in a discount membership program which charged my CC monthly. I disputed my monthy charge stating I saw no said agreement when ordering. They removed the charge and I went back to my old local florist.

A short story:

My wife and I decided to spend about 6 weeks in Europe a few years back. We rented a car and would just drive and stop if we liked where we were at. Visted relatives in France / Italy but mostly did sight seeing. One of our "legs" of travel we drove down the autostrada in Italy and returned along the coast. We wanted to see Milan at the time. It was vacation time and the town appeared to be empty with a majority of shops/restaurants closed. We headed for the mountains NE of Milan. On our drive we stopped at a gas station and spoke with some other tourists also driving thru asking them about a place to stay. We were unfamiliar with the area and just utilized tour books. The tourists we met just pointed down the road when we asked about a hotel/motel.

Driving all day we were a bit tired and saw what appeared to be a "motel" of sorts in the middle of nowhere halfway up to the mountains. We proceeded to check in but there was no lobby or check in counter. We drove around to what appeared to be a drive thru checkin. It was just a tinted window with a very small opening a bit larger than a CC. Never saw anyone thru the glass. I was tired and put my CC in the window. It was "processed" and I was given a key and room number. The only way to get to park the vehicle was via this entrance. I proceeded on thru and noticed that each parking "stall" was totally isolated from the next adjacent one. I never saw anything like this. It turned out to be a "romantic" getaway place with some interesting "accessories" in the room (hot tub, etc). My wife and I were young and naive never have seen anything like this at the time here in the US or in our travels in europe.