Credit Card Skimming

With all the hype over credit card fraud on the Internet, most consumers do not know there are just as many credit card fraud incidents involving the checkout clerk at your favorite retail store.

The company who processes our credit card transactions recently placed a warning about credit card skimming on their customers' monthly statements. The warning reads in part: "Skimming is the practice of stealing live credit card numbers for illegal duplication and sale. This is done when an employee accepts the customer's credit card for a legitimate transaction. Then, in addition to handling the charge in the usual way, the employee runs the credit card through an illegally used hand-held skimming device that retrieves and stores credit card data from the card's magnetic stripe. The data that is collected is sold and then fraudulent credit cards are created that access your customer's [the consumer's] account." The warning goes on to state that credit card skimming "is a growing problem in the United States."

We realize this information has nothing to do with resumes and careers, but we thought it could be extremely beneficial to our clients who have holiday shopping to do. Whenever you use your credit card, either in a brick-and-mortar establishment or online, you should be vigilant as to how that card (or your account number) is handled.