I've been exercising my new cards lately and have taken notice to a lot of information on my receipts. My complete name, the entire credit card number, the type of card and the expiration date are all plain as day on the receipt. This is all the information someone would need to use my credit card at many places online and possibly off-line too. I believe this is no different than losing your credit card - the same information is out there for the taking - itâ??s just on a piece of paper instead of a piece of plastic. A local gas station 'x's out all but the last 4 digits of your card number. Seems like in this day and age everyone would do that to protect the consumer. At another gas stations, I've gone to get my receipt and someone else had left their receipt behind - with their name, cc#, etc. on it. I have several restaurant receipts sitting here and every one of them contains my full card number, exp. date, etc. Is it just me or is this practice just plain CRAZY? I've brought it to the attention of various stores and restaurants with mixed results - some said they'd forward the info onto their accounting department so that the card machines can be changed, others didn't seem to see the implications. Thoughts?? Am I just being paranoid? I mean, I have control over MY copy of the receipt.... but what about the other copy??? Ozzy.
Very happy to see this! >>>Visa Takes Steps to Stem Identity Theft WASHINGTON (AP) - Visa will begin limiting the display of credit card account numbers on receipts to combat identity theft. While many merchants already truncate the 16-digit card numbers on receipts, Visa will require, beginning July 1, that new credit-card machines display only the last four digits, company chief executive officer Carl Pascarella said Thursday. All machines that accept Visa cards must comply with the change by mid-2006, Pascarella said. "Identity thieves thrive on discarded receipts and documents containing consumers' information," he said. "Visa's new policy will protect consumers by limiting the information these thieves can access." Complaints about identity theft nearly doubled in 2002. The crime topped the government's list of consumer frauds for a third consecutive year. The Federal Trade Commission said 43 percent of about 380,000 complaints involved the hijacking of someone's identity information, such as a credit card or Social Security number, to steal money or commit fraud. Officials at MasterCard and American Express said they too have been working with merchants to reduce the theft of credit card numbers. MasterCard spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin said MasterCard's policy on limiting the display of card numbers will take effect a year before Visa's. MasterCard already has limited the information on receipts at cardholder-activated machines like gasoline pumps, Gamsin said. American Express has no similar requirement, but for the past year it has programmed its new terminals to truncate card numbers, spokeswoman Nancy Muller said. Consumer advocates, while praising Visa's decision, said it is misleading to call it voluntary. "It took state action and the threat of federal action to get them to do it," said Edmund Mierzwinski, an identity theft expert for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. California and Ohio already have enacted laws to limit information on credit-card receipts, he said. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is pushing for a national requirement to truncate card numbers on receipts. Her bill calls for displaying five digits, but she said she will change it to conform to Visa's announcement. Ozzy.
I always check my receipts. If it has the full number, it needs to be shredded instead of just going in the trash. But you're correct, there may be another copy out there with all the information. The business establishment should take action to protect it, but who knows? I wonder if there's anything in their agreements that specifies how they dispose of their copy of receipts? Make sure you take your copy with you!
I know in California (where I am) it is state law that at least the last 4 numbers must be x'ed out. If I remember correctly, it was passed in 2000. If you happen to be in CA, let me know and I'll look up the exact statute for you.
First of all, great topic, Ozzy. Just the other day I made a purchase at Hecht's (part of the May Co.) and was appalled that they still make an imprint of your card. Their cash registers have the swiping mechanism, but their policy is to make the imprint. The salesgirl who had been on the job for only just a few days had even made the comment "I can't believe they still use these things". Lisa
I don't recall the Hecht's here making the imprint any more. They have the machines that print the receipt, which includes your name, and then you sign. Much like the restaurants do. I do remember that they uses to feed forms into the register and then do the imprint, but I think they did away with that. Maybe they're doing it on a store by store basis and it's "coming soon to a store near you." I hope so, anyway.
Would I be showing my age if I reminded everyone of the years when they imprinted your card, using carbon paper, and then threw the paper away? Does anyone here remember what carbon paper is?
Re: Re: OT: slightly re: CC#'s on receipts I know what CARBON PAPER is... PRECURSOR to NCR paper...makes 2 or 3 copies w/o carbon paper...
Re: Re: OT: slightly re: CC#'s on receipts When I worked at the TEXACO station...(MANY MOONS AGO) we got new NCR receipts and everybody kept on STEALING our copy!!! Original (top copy) customer Middle copy ours Bottom copy (HARD) went to TEXACO to pay for the gas (OFF-SET with a check for the balance) THEY "ASSUMED" IT WAS THE CARBON...WRONG!!! It was REAL FUN setting them straight!!! And even funner getting our copy back!!!
LOL George, then your probably remember the scandal when people were digging carbons out of the trash to steal cc numbers. It was all over the news! So then, the consumer had to stand and watch as the cashier vigilantly shredded the carbon into a hundred different pieces. Or "Would you like your carbon paper with your receipt?" ROFL - Seems like a LIFETIME ago.
Interesting post. On another related note, something I read the other day about Debit cards as opposed to Credit Cards: The nation is getting more and more used to using debit cards as oppossed to credit cards. That may not be a good thing. If someone pirates your debit card number they can clean out your bank account. If someone pirates your Credit Card, depending on how fast you report it stolen, you may not be responsible for any of the theft, and in some instances reports up to 6 days after theft will/can limit your liability to $500. Just some food for thought.
debtor_x, Right on target. I am on a contract in South America right now, and using a debit card, or for that matter a check card here is just plain stupid. Every single terminal prints the slip with full name, number, exp date, everything. ATMs print out the full card number and account balance. Safeguarding practices for this kind of info are nonexistent and there are almost no laws that protect the consumer. Even if you manage to find one, taking anyone to court takes you on average several years. You can see the full blossom of idiocy at department stores and supermarkets. When the clerks change shifts, they take all the cc receipts and enter them into a register, manually. They do it right there at the cash registers, spreading the receipts for anybody to snatch. The bonus in stupidity? The stores require you to write your home phone number and your ID number on the cc receipt. The biggest mistake Americans make? They put their SSN down. You know where that goes, don't you? And if somebody has missed their security briefing and forgot to buy a shredder, they are in for a nasty surprise. Dump your cc recripts, bank statements, or any other financial info in the trash, and you have 100% possibility that somebody will pick it up and turn it over to the bad guys. Every night after you take out your trash you can see a guy sitting between the bags, shifting through what you've just dumped. Naive foreigners thing that those are just poor people looking for something they may have use of, but more often than not they are looking for financial info. This is no dumpster diving, this is full time employment on an extended night shift. The first thing you are told when you come down here is to never let your cc out of sight. The common trick is for a department store clerk to tell you that there is something wrong with your card and that she needs to confirm the authorization by phone. There is, obviously, no phone at the counter, so she takes the card to the office in the back. You get your next statement in mail and you have thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges from all over the world. They skimmed your card and gotten themselves a new one. Ain't that cute. In other words, it's just unbelieveable. Not that it's happening, but the scale of it and the abilities and resources of the crooks, who often have their own 'clerks' at different stores. Yuck. PawMix
We are trying an alternative to both, having an account solely for the debit card and transferring money into it when we intend to make a purchase. I am also very wary so we never keep much in the bank. We have given the direct deposit info and such to the employer, phone, power, etc and you never know who might get ahold of their records either!
