Caution with credit cards

With the holidays upon us, it’s becoming a reflex move to pull that credit card out - unfortunately if you're concerned about identity theft this could be hazzardous.

Yesterday I was at a mall in the San Joaquin valley needing some food for my kids. The place was packed! As I walked into the court I realized I had a choice – I could either trust the person behind the counter was either honest or too busy/ worn out from the day to care who I was – or I should use cash from the nearby ATM machine. “What’s the difference Dave?” – by using cash I guaranteed my anonymity. If I were to hand the checkout person my card, I was giving up my name, and card number.

I wouldn’t normally give this much of a consideration but on the radio last week I heard a guy, ‘Bob’ on a radio show last week that wanted the DJs to call this girl ‘Sally’ for a date. After some prodding the DJs learned ‘Sally’ didn’t give Bob her phone number – he worked in a deli she frequented often. She paid with a credit card. By using her name and a search engine he found her personal information!

Be careful who you give your card to and be careful what you do with your personal statements.

Social engineering and dumpster diving are the number 1 ways people lose their private information.