While I was in London, where they use chip and PIN for most customers who have such cards, my American Express card was duplicated – and it did not leave my hands at all. I ran it through a machine at the table, and then signed the printed receipt which the waitron took immediately. So the scammers do not even need to get their hands on the printed copy.

For consumers identity theft is an inconvenience – sometimes quite a big one. For merchants it is a source of serious losses. So you would think that in general they would have a strong incentive to tighten up procedures. The roll out of chip and PIN here is disgracefully slow. In Europe they have had it for years.

Nonetheless, thanks for taking the time to point out this service blunder. We have posted your article in our staff room and will detail your concerns at our pre-shift meetings.

Fraser Boyer
Yaletown Brewing Company

your sh*t is good, girl.

I’ve had my card number stolen, twice. Both times it appears as though it was stolen in Malaysia. There was a period of time in which nothing happened (taking time to get a card made, undoubtedly) and then, wham, the charges start racking up. The last time it happened, they racked up over $10,000.00 worth of merchandise in less than a day…hitting all the best shops in Paris, France.

My bank was fantastic about the whole thing. I noticed the activity online and I called and refused the transactions. I had to fill out a cumbersome form online, but other than that, I was done. The bank canceled my card and re-issued a new one with a new number. The credits were placed into a separate account until the issue was resolved (which is pretty easy when they call up the receipts an none of them match my signature).

Something to remember, though. If you have your DEBIT card stolen along with the pin number…you won’t have it so easy. You will be on the hook for what is spent…because, there is generally no paper receipt to follow. There is a complicated chain of events you have to meet in order to get out of those transactions…and one of those is reporting your card stolen to the bank and to police. It’s very strange. Hence, I prefer the use of a credit card wherever I go. Use it, pay it.

On an unrelated story…I once dined in a restaurant, paid with my card, and handed the receipt to the hostess on my way out the door. It was a $75.00 meal with a $10 tip. When the transaction cleared the bank, it was for $135. Huh? I called the bank and got a copy of the receipt…someone at the restaurant had altered the 1 in my tip to a 6…pocketing an extra $50.

Lesson? Leave your tip in cash.

In some cases the establishment may have to pay for a hardware upgrade which could be the reason behind the slow migration to ‘masking’.

I also know from first hand experience at my day job that a hardware rollout of this kind can take ages to do and there are only so many ‘banking nerds’ out there to do the upgrades in person.