Friday, June 17, 2005

Quick Tip to Protect your ATM Card

It's not uncommon these days for your
ATM card issued by your bank to also
be your Visa or Mastercard
account access device as well.

 Quick-Tip-to-Protect-your-ATM-Card-audio-post - click to play

Identity thieves, unfortunately, know this all to
well. They use speed to their advantage to rapidly
charge purchases with busy merchants who do not
always check for photo id.

So, here's our quick tip to prevent identity theft:

Instead of signing the back of your credit/debit card,
write "check photo id" in the signature block.
Many banks now issue credit/debit cards that display
your photograph on the front. If that's an option with
your bank, consider doing it. Both of these practices
make it more difficult for a thief to use your card in
person.

Even if your card does not contain an embedded photo
of yourself, this practice still makes it more
difficult for the identity thief to copy your
signature from the card.

1 Comments:

At 11:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have written "Please Check ID" on the back of my card for years. That is, at least, until I went into a US Post Office to send a package. I was quickly informed that they could not use the credit card in this state. I offered to sign the card but because the card had not been signed before I presented it I was told I could not use the card.

The US Post Office has, so far, been the only place I have encountered this behavior. Most people simple say, "Hey, that is a good idea." But people should be aware that not everybody is on board with accepting a credit card that has not been signed prior to presentation.

Go forth and do good things,
Cutaway

 

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