How credit card companies help identity thieves
Sunday, February 1st, 2009Stories like these make me shake my head in disbelief.
Imagine the irony of credit card companies pushing “identity theft” protection, yet on the other hand not requiring or allowing merchants to check your identity when making a purchase at their store with a credit card?!!
David Lazarus recently became a victim (a second time) of financial identity theft. A thief stole his wallet from a gym locker and used his credit cards on a shopping spree.
Davis was pleased that eventually each of the banks credit card computer software flagged the suspicious purchases and froze the card. David writes:
“…I later learned, somebody was using my Chase MasterCard to purchase $432.99 worth of goodies at the Toys R Us branch in West Los Angeles…The thief then jumped into his car and high-tailed it to Glendale, where, shortly after 2:30 p.m., he used my American Express card for a $1,350.80 purchase at Best Buy. The thief next drove to a Toys R Us in Glendale, where this time he used my Bank of America debit card to buy $497.98 worth of stuff. Then, with considerable moxie, he returned to the same Best Buy where he’d been a half-hour earlier and used my Chase card to buy a Canon digital camera for $1,298.97. He then drove to a nearby Target and tried to use my AmEx, Chase and BofA cards for a $575.40 purchase. This time, each bank’s computer system sensed something was amiss and declined the transaction. The spending spree ended there.”
David was happy the banks fraud software limited the unauthorized shopping carnage, but he was miffed…
“What’s not reassuring is the ease with which the thief was able to pass himself off as me at major retailers.
Shouldn’t the salespeople and cashiers have spotted that he didn’t match the face on my driver’s license?
It turns out that no photo ID is required for most credit card purchases. Cashiers are instructed to simply check the signature for any purchase against the signature on the back of the card — a scrawl any identity thief probably could master within minutes.”
And we learn why financial identity theft is so easy…
“This isn’t our rule,” Best Buy’s Fisher said. “It’s in the contracts from the credit card companies…Tristan Jordan, a MasterCard spokesman, emphasized that customers weren’t liable for fraudulent purchases, so there’s no need for an ID check. “You’re protected,” he said.”
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. Credit bureaus, credit card companies and lenders make financial identity theft so very easy.
