Be nice to get I'D still....

Wouldn't it just. :(

Dye your hair daft colors. Works a treat. :D

trust me, my hair gets dyed lots of different weird colours. sometimes it even gets shaved off. still doesn''t work. :(

Oh and living somewhere with silly laws which encourage/force people to behave like automatons rather than sentient beings. ;) Don't recall ever being carded in the UK, even when I was 16. One extreme to the other.

Drives me nuts that they're so militant over this and then never ever check signatures on credit slips etc. Still I guess the credit card company pays if the card is stolen, not the store so it's not their problem. Although when shopping in the mall the other day (something I rarely do), both stores I visited asked to see my driver's licence for me to pay by credit card. Didn't check the signature, but they saw my drivers licence so all was well. :rolleyes:

(And it's not just me and/or my hair -it's standard policy to require a DL in the mall stores to pay by credit card and in the grocery stores to buy beer. It happens to all the other not-obviously-over-60 people too. Why? Because it confirms name or age. That isn't acting as an ID card? )

They are suppose to check signatures but once you check over a thousand with nothing wrong (you wouldn't notice anyways), you stop doing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCLu83rppmA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fMup0a7xE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSqbHFM1T4
I bet their mothers are proud of them.

Who wouldn't notice? I used to earn a fortune in bonuses from capturing stolen cards at my Saturday job. They paid 50 quid a time in the UK if you are the cashier who spots a stolen card being used and calls the company. I used to earn 32 quid for a whole Saturday -50 per card was big money. Perhaps that's why I get so annoyed when they don't check -it's so easy. I don't think the card companies must offer rewards over here, though. I wonder if they still do in the UK? I guess it's made a bit obsolete now you can use credit cards to shop online.

Oops, this is going a bit OT

I was never told about an award...

We either didn't have it or our company probably took the money anyways. I am going to be honest with you and say that I had no idea how to spot a stolen one either.

It may be OT, but it's interesting.

So would you call the credit card company with the customer standing right there? Would they bolt out the door when you started to make the call? Would the cops show up and make an arrest? Or would you just say "the card's been declined. I have to confiscate it." and let them go without their purchases?

So how many counterfeit DLs do you have? Counterfeit DLs are common as noted in the previous discussion. DL is insufficient as ID except when serving government purposes - as noted previously. Normal for a college kid to have had at least one counterfeit ID. DLs are so woefully insufficient as proof of ID - do not confirm name or age - that even 11 September attackers used counterfeit DLs. So how good is a DL as proof of age or name? Woefully insufficient. DL is only sufficient as ID for government purposes - as posted in that previous discussion.

Meanwhile you know all this because you read that previous discussion. So why am I repeating what you should have read rather than have an emotional melt down? Even a Bush daughter had ID for someone in MD. But you already knew that because ...

Monster, your post demonstrates that you did not even read that previous discussion. DLs are routinely counterfeited. Therefore DLs are sufficient as ID? Only when used to serve government purposes.

Why are credit cards so easily used illegally? Where is the ID system that serves you AND that permits you to protect your ID? That system does not exist. Why? Maybe this time you might read that previous discussion - the logical and unemotional response to a previous post.

Do you have a system in the US where you can get your picture on your credit card? For face to face purchases this is a great protection for the owner of the card, if the vendor remembers to look at the picture.

Still doesn't protect you against fraud online though.

Speaking of credit card fraud protection... my local gas station has recently started a policy where after swiping your card at the pump, you have to enter your billing zip code before it will authorize. Anyone else seen this in your area?

OT stolen credit cards
 

OK, the way it worked was, each store has a "floor limit" for a card -that is, the maximum sale you can make without getting authorization. Over that, you had to call for authorization. (It's changed now since automatic authorization, but pretty much the same principle). So if you got a dodgy card/customer, you'd call up same way but you'd tell them "code 10" and then it went to a special procedure for checking the customer ID. The real pros knew what a "code 10" was and ran like hell at this point, but you have the card in your hand, so you still got the reward. If the punter stays, the CC Co. asks to speak to them and asks them security questions (mother's maiden name, current balance, what did you spend $512.68 on last week...).

In the UK, the card always remains the property of the card company, so if they authorize me to retain it, even if it is the right customer in front or me, I can legally keep it. We used to keep a big pair of scissors at the desk solely for the purposes of cutting up cards we retained.

Yes, we just kept the card and they walked/ran away without their purchases. Or their card. Occasionally, the card co. would call the police while they were on the line to us (our merchant number told them exactly where we were), occasionally they might actually get there before the punter ran. We did not call the police unless they attacked anyone or stole any stock.

Automatic authorization made it a little harder to call on the sly, but some stores had a button on the card reader you could press to make it say "call for authorization", so you could show them that the machine told you to.

How to spot a stolen card (in the UK)

1) Signature (obvious, huh). Watch them sign. Don't let them see the sig strip while they are signing. If they take a long time to do a scribbly sig.... stolen. If just one of the letters looks out of place or they slow or speed up ...stolen

2) Signature strip. Rub your thumb over it. It usually feels pretty smoothe. Ballpoint pen can be removed without removing the security printing by dipping the card in certain chemicals. But it alters the feel of the strip -it gets rougher. It also fades the three security digits printed on the strips of some cards. If a card has been "re-signed" even though the signatures look similar, call -genuine punters rarely re-sign their cards, even though it may seem logical.

3) Punters. For clothing (the store I worked in) theives are always in twos. girl/boy in menswear, two women for the girly stuff. I hear it's two men for electronics. They immediately tell you the card's good if you hesitate -genuine punters don't even notice the hesitation. They want the card back in their possession asap. If they're pros, their purchase will be only pennies under your floor limit, bumped up with accessories if the main items are significantly below. If they ask you what the floor limit is, the card is stolen. Thieves either don't have other bags, or if they do, they don't put them down while they "pay". The non-paying person either watches the cashier too closely or is looking towards the door.

There's lots of stuff. This is many years ago. The technology has changed, but I doubt the behaviours have much. I see shoplifters and stolen credit card behaviour here all the time. I've alerted the cashiers/assistants a few times, but they either don't care or are too scared to do anything, so I don't bother any more. But I wish they did care. Just in case my card gets stolen if nothing else.

As it happens, I did read the discussion. You seem rather hot under the collar about that, so I hope that gem of infomation cools you down somewhat. Sure DLs areeasily forged. So what? no-one checks them that closely. all they're doing is covering their asses. You really think it's going to be different for any other card? But that still doesn't change my original post which you (so irrationally) objected to -that is, that in my opinion and experience, the DL is used as an ID card.

Is tw short for twat?