March 11, 2009
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Credit Card Signatures, Pt.1
Are they safe and necessary?Of course, everyone knows today about the ever-present danger of credit card fraud. We hear about it every day. Hackers, scammers and scummers. Every kind of hustle and, as if that's not enough, we have a multi-billion dollar credit card black market that is alive and doing well. As hard as you may try, there is little you can do about breaches at major retailers and credit card payment processors.
If you know that your credit card has been compromised soon enough, that's the easy part. Just call you lending bank right away, 24/7. The problem is that we seldom find out until time has gone by. Much can go wrong in an hour. It's all very perplexing. How do we stop them? We're all encouraged to sign our cards on the back the moment we activate them. But some of us believe that would make it too easy for some to steal our identity, as well. It's highly recommended that we add a line above our signature specifying "Ask for ID". But, what's to stop thieves from forging fake ID, as well. A little extra work and some time. At least it stops those petty thieves from maxing out the credit card in the first hour they steal it.
If followed properly, the credit card isn't supposed to be usable without a signature. So, by not signing it two things can happen:
1) You won't be able to use the card yourself;
2) All the thief has to do is sign the card for you using their own style.
The way it's supposed to work is, when you sign the receipt, the clerk is to compare the signature on the receipt with the signature on the back of the credit card. That's the simplicity of it all. Many clerks don't bother but, that's the way it's supposed to work.