Police: Fort Lauderdale waitress charged thousands to diners' credit cards

hollydolly

hollydolly

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Location
London England
Americans....watch this it's only 2 minutes long...



We have had these table top credit card machines for many years.. for the same reasons as this video.. because unscrupulous sales people were skimming our cards , so when you use them.. your card isn't touched by anyone but you. You just tap the card on the machine, no need to insert a pin number unless it's over £100 and you're good to go.. so wherever you get the chance to use these machines.. do so... never give your card to anyone...
 

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This is an older scam but the technology to steal is much more available ie personal card scanners. Always make sure the card is always in your presence. And when in doubt pay at the register with a stationary card swiper. And as noted cash eliminates potential fraud(but not theft if wrong person sees you fork it over)
 
You are normally only responsible for up to $50 - then the fraud protection kicks in and the card issuer takes over.

We normally eat at regular "great food" eateries where we have known the proprietor and waitstaff for years.

Lets face it, its hard to carry cash everywhere these days.
 
These machines have been around for awhile. The reader you use at your table, like the one at Red Robin or Texas Roadhouse, is more secure.

I use Apple Pay. It’s been proven safe. I also pay $18 a year for a rider on my home insurance policy against credit card fraud.
 
We've had the tap and go machines for many years.. but before we got them we had our card skimmed at the Petrol garage. The card was handed over, and the guy in the garage had the machine below the high counter so it couldn't be seen.. but what the customers didn't know was , like this girl.. he had his own machine there too... so the first we knew of it was when we got call from the Fraud dept of our bank...

...now with the tap and go machines you never let anyone else touch your card..Debit or Credit...

I'm not keen on apple pay.. my estranged O/H and my daughter use it all the time.. they tell me it's safe, but I'm a bit loath to use it, because I refuse to use banking on my phone..
 
Card fraud is rampant, but my only experience came from an online order.

I bought something from a department store chain in Florida online once. Afterward the weird charges began. Turns out they bring in Africans on work visas a lot and sometimes they grab and sell the credit card transaction details to others on work visas.
 
I use my credit card at restaurants. Sometimes they have the machines where I can insert the card myself, sometimes not. Since I monitor my credit accounts often I would catch the fraud. But my banks are also great at catching fraud and denying the charges. But if they don't catch it, I'm not liable for fraudulent charges.

@Gary O' I always hand the wait staff their tips too. I stopped leaving tips on the table decades ago. Too many unsavory characters on the loose.
 
Lewkat said:
I never let my card out of my hand at all. I'll use cash whenever I can.
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Keep using cash Lois, because as soon as cash is no longer King, and we're all made to use cards, we lose control of our finances, and are the mercy of a government and banking system who can block access to your account whenever they want. Here in the UK the majority of people are just paying by Apple Pay or Card for everything , even the smallest thing like a newspaper.. and it's a real concern,,
 
hollydolly said:
Keep using cash Lois, because as soon as cash is no longer King, and we're all made to use cards, we lose control of our finances, and are the mercy of a government and banking system who can block access to your account whenever they want. Here in the UK the majority of people are just paying by Apple Pay or Card for everything , even the smallest thing like a newspaper.. and it's a real concern,,
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I pay for practically everything with my credit card too...never my debit card. I do so because of the rewards, the convenience and because I'm covered in case of fraud. For the past two years in a row, my cash backs have been around $1,100 a year. Over the past decade, it's well over $8,000. I never pay interest so the rewards are not eaten up by that. Despite that, I have the same concern as you...that at some point a bank will (most likely erroneously) freeze my account. But that is the reason I never put all my eggs in one basket.
 
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She's a real POS. I don't know if credit cards are as protected in Europe as they are in the U.S.? I try to mainly pay cash when shopping in person.
 
hollydolly said:
Our cards are More protected than in the USA.. much more...
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That's good because ours seem to be pretty good here. And my bank shut down and issued me an immediate new card when something looked suspicious on my card linked on my Paypal account. What it was, I never knew but they were on it and only communicated by snail mail. This was a number of years ago.
 
Remy said:
That's good because ours seem to be pretty good here. And my bank shut down and issued me an immediate new card when something looked suspicious on my card linked on my Paypal account. What it was, I never knew but they were on it and only communicated by snail mail. This was a number of years ago.
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It's a pity it's taken so long for the USA to introduce tap and go card machines, and are still allowing businesses to use card machines behind a counter..
 

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