Quote:
Originally Posted by glatt
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?
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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.