Identity Theft Scam!

Many of us shop at convenient stores or those little gas station stores. Some criminals have found a way to shop on line using YOUR credit card!

Here's how they do it. When you hand them your credit card, they swipe it and then put it on the counter beside the cash register, just out of your view. During this process, they pretend to be on their cell phone. While the card is out of your view and they are waiting for your transaction to be "approved", they set their cell phone beside it and take a picture. With this picture, they now have your name, credit card number, expiration date, and what kind of credit card it is, you know, master card, visa, and so on. This is really bad news.

Now they can go online and buy items with your credit card, or sell your information to other on-line thieves.

Your thinking, "But they don't have the 3 digit verification number from the back of your card?".

Well it may surprise you to know that many online websites do not require that verification number. There are thousands of on-line stores that will gladly charge your credit card with only the information from the front of your card.

So what do you do? This scam is very hard to safeguard against. So try to be aware of it. When you hand someone your credit card, try not to let it out of your sight, and be conscious of the fact that virtually every cell phone these days has a camera built into it.

Try to find stores where you scan the card yourself. And be sure the employee is giving you their full attention and not "talking" on their cell phone.

While identity theft continues to be a huge problem, You do everything You can to help protect yourself against this invasion of your privacy.