And why does it, anecdotally, seem to rarely result in theft?

34 comments

  2. We have strong credit fraud protections. It takes a few clicks to report.

    It is also very easy to determine who handled and ran the card.

  4. It doesn’t result in theft because I know who the waiter is and know that he’s the one who stole the card

  6. Anyone using that information fraudulently would be easily discovered and fired (at the very least)

  8. i find the opposite is the weird question, why is it when i go to outside america is credit card theft so common? i had my credit card stolen twice in one trip to italy. and european friends are shocked when i hand over a credit card. are there just no penalties outside the us for stealing? does no one ever report it? do the police never follow up on it? is there just a culture of dishonesty and “well you practically let me steal it so it’s your own fault not a problem with my morals” elsewhere?

    here, you easily report it, the card company invalidates the charge so you don’t have to pay it, and that’s that.

    contrast the outside-america experience with here in nyc where i’ve multiple times left or dropped my credit card, had someone find it and NOT steal it, turn it in, and i ended up getting it back and never having a single false charge on it.

  9. Credit cards make a lot of money off from transaction fees charged to merchants.

    Credit card companies want USA consumers to use their cards as much as possible.

    Credit card companies will not make consumers pay for the cost of fraud, they do not want consumers to be wary of using their cards.

  10. Banks and credit card companies are usually pretty good at protecting against theft. They’ll almost always take your side and chargeback whatever retailer your thief was buying stuff from.

  11. I actually did get my card stolen this way once. I was moving for a new job and bought a bunch of clothes for it. I told the super-friendly checkout guy that I was leaving town soon and all the clothes were for the job, which was a big opportunity that I was excited about. He told me the machine wasn’t working and he needed to run my card in the back, and he disappeared with it for a few minutes.

    A few weeks later, after I’d moved, I noticed all these charges on my account for things I didn’t buy, like a TV and (I thought this one was the most insulting for some reason) a cheap McDonald’s lunch. They were all in the vicinity of the store; I was hundreds of miles away by the time any of them happened. I didn’t have to think about it for very long before I remembered the guy going to the back with my card.

    I called the bank and got all the money back pretty much immediately. I didn’t say anything about the store guy, though. I was like 90 percent sure he did it but I didn’t want to ruin his life in the 10-percent chance he didn’t. So I hope he enjoyed his TV and McDonald’s, I guess.

  13. I get a call within minutes of any credit card usage the bank deems inappropriate. For example I made a trip out of state and bought gas. Boom! I got an alert to verify I made the transaction.

  14. Because the average waiter isn’t going to steal a credit card.

    If they do, they’re probably not going to choose mine.

    And if they do, they’ll be easy to catch.

    Personal biases come into play, but I’m much more comfortable with a random waiter handling my credit card information than Google/the internets. I’ve lost more money that way, too.

  15. Card fraud is not fault of the card holder. On the rare event the waiter wrote down your card information you just need to dispute the charge. The company will remove the charge from your account and issue you a new card free of charge. Most will mail it to you for free.

    You’re required to provide identification to police in America during a majority of involuntary interactions. To what extent depends on the state you’re in.

  16. Most people don’t steal stuff.

    Police can’t steal a whole lot with your name and driver’s license number.

    With your name and card number it’s still difficult to steal stuff and get away with it. A worker at Taco Bell copied down my card number and ordered a bunch of designer clothes from a company in California but the card company sniffed it out before the order was shipped. And having a bunch of stolen stuff shipped to your house is a good way to have police show up with a warrant a few days later.

  17. For cards it’s not like the server is leaving the premises or otherwise not being watched, and strong consumer protections on credit cards limit liability to $50. For debit cards the bank will often issue a provisional credit for the disputed amount while an investigation is conducted.

    For handing ID to the cops it could easily be seen as a sign of guilt if a driver doesn’t hand over the card to check for criminal records, and it may also be illegal. However, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know for sure. Plus you get the card back immediately.

  18. When it comes to a traffic violation or something, I think it’s pretty obvious why in that situation we’d be willing to hand over our ID to a cop. I mean, that’s just how it works, it’s *the law*.

    But, in my experience, it is ***not*** commonplace to just casually hand over your ID to a cop just because they asked. If they want my ID, they damn well better have a good reason, a good explanation for why they’re asking for it, and they better be polite and *ask nicely* (assuming it’s obvious I haven’t done anything that places me under arrest). Most people I know have a similar mindset. However, in the heat of the moment, when a cop randomly decides to get in your face and shout you down before even giving a “hello” (very common here), it’s understandable why some people cave to their aggressive demands and sheepishly hand over an ID. I’ve ever been in that situation a few times myself where it was just easier to de-escalate the aggressive and dangerous cop by giving them what they wanted, even if it was my right not to. No one wants to get the snot beat out of them by a guy who can legally just kill you if they want to.

  19. Because most people are actually honest and have no interest in stealing even if they could do it without being caught. Sure there are some who aren’t above stealing, but many of those people still aren’t going to risk being fired and potentially sent to jail/prison over maybe a couple hundred dollars.

    As for giving identification to cops why would that be an issue? Sure it might be an annoyance, but it’s not going to hurt you either unless you did something you really weren’t supposed to. Not giving identification in a position where you legally have to is going to escalate the issue far past it being a minor annoyance.

  20. The one time I had my card info stolen it wasn’t from someone who rang me up at a restaurant. And when it happened my bank could tell it wasn’t me in minutes and locked down the card and called me. I was issued a new card as soon as I returned their call.

    So we do it that way because it seems to work and there’s no need to make the process more complicated when what we’re doing now seems to work.

    As to drivers license. You’re required to show proof that you’re licensed to drive. That’s entirely what a license is for. The fact that most people use it as a form of ID is because it’s state issued and has your photo on it, and most of us drive. So it’s convenient to use as an ID in other situations. But it is primarily meant as proof that the state has licensed us to operate a vehicle. So if a cop pulls you over for breaking a road rule, yeah it’s reasonable for them to check that you’re licensed to drive.

  21. Because you have to be an incomprehensible fucking idiot to steal a card when the person you stole it from sees you, and you can easily report theft

  22. Waiters: it’s dumb. We shouldn’t.

    Cops: much of the time, the law requires it. If you’re driving a car, you are obligated to supply drivers license and registration, proof of insurance.

  23. Because if someone steals your credit card info, it’s pretty quick and easy to block your card and dispute it if they try to use your card info. It’s generally not worth it for thieves to do that.

    Most credit card fraud happens when a big company gets compromised and then everyone who did business with the company has their info being sold to thieves.

    As for the ID to cops, most people would rather just comply as most people aren’t comfortable trying to say “no” to a police officer.

    That’s one that probably shouldn’t be as common as in most cases unless you’re being arrested or you’re being pulled over for speeding or something, they can’t actually require you to give ID.

  24. Because it’s almost never going to result in anything worse than mild inconvenience. Never personally had my card stolen, but my sister did a few months ago. Someone a county over from her drained her bank account buying random appliances. My sister had her money back by the next day and the guy got arrested like two days after that. Worst part for her was waiting for a new debit card.

  25. Doesn’t happen with servers, I pay cash.

    If I’m driving and break a law, Both hands are on the wheel, visible, I state I have a cpl, im carrying and where its located. It’s thier choice on whether to remove me from the vehicle to retrieve the weapon or they tell me to just leave it there, and produce my DL, CPL and registration. I’ve been asked to get out of my vehicle once and had my weapon secured. ( the officer was very young, and had no idea how to clear the one I had in the pipe. Had to wait for back-up. I was not cuffed just seated in the back of the prowler)

    I’ve reported debris on the highway, got asked for my name.
    Answer: No.
    Get the ( last time it was an extension ladder) off the road before someone dies. Click.

    They have caller id- figger it out.

    ( I’ve personally called 911 for the following items on the highway in the last 23 years of living close to a main interstate:

    3 bags of broken open concrete mix

    Pallettes..probably 8x

    Rocking chair

    Kayak

    Boat outboard motor

    Chains

    Mattress ( 3 or 4 x)

    5 gallons of cream color paint

    Numerous deer carcasses , field dressed and bumper gutted

    Pallette of gallon jugs of nestle spring water. )

  26. I believe it is because there is so much risk on the waiter and resultants if it happens. I mean, when I go out, I know where I sat and who my server was. Not hard to track down a fraud charge.

  27. It happens. We saw some strange charges on our statement coming from Mexico. Got them removed, but not long after, a restaurant we used to go to all the time had several employees busted for skimming credit cards.

  28. That’s more or less how you pay for your meal.

    And the cop, you’re not going anyplace until you’ve been positively identified.

    Where’s the issue here?

  31. It rarely ending in theft is why. Also the US being early adopters for credit/debit is why we are so willing to hand over the card. For decades that was the only choice, and it rarely ended I theft.
    That and for stronger consumer protection than most anywhere else with regards to card fraud.

  32. The real question is why does there seem to be so much more petty crime outside the US, at least in other developed nations. Shouldn’t a lack of crime related to card theft or pick pocketing be the norm and the presence of high rates of these crimes be the odd thing that should be “weird”? You should be asking Europeans why they have such a problem with card theft and why they don’t have stronger protections from the issuers of these cards.

  34. Banks build consumer protections in to their electronic payment systems because they want you to use their services. When a card number does get stolen and fraudulent charges are made, it’s usually very easy to report and dispute them.

    In return, the banks make money off interest (if you don’t pay your credit bill in full), merchant fees, and they can collect data about your spending.

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