Watch out for Credit Card Theft at Restaurants!

Now that Christmas holidays have come, we want to spend more time with family and friends. Most obviously, some cardholders will go out for Christmas meals. Interestingly, eating out over this festive season can be a bit more expensive than cooking meals at home. Take a little break and enjoy a good crispy duck or a thin-crusted pizza with your favorite toppings. But beware! You may get something you haven't ordered...credit card theft!

According to Visa, the number one credit payment system, the most common places for credit card theft are dining locations. Nearly 40% of all credit card theft cases occur at restaurants and other places of public catering. Let's find out more about this problem!

Identity theft is one of the worst fears of all cardholders. This invisible crime may spoil your holidays as well as your good credit history. Though you may think that your identity is stolen by waiters and bussers, who quickly copy your personal data, the root of this problem lies much deeper.

Crooks break into a computer system of the restaurant and download the information about credit cards. By all means, credit card information is stored at lots of other merchants. The question is, how is it stored?

At first glance, there is no obvious reason why restaurants have become a target for credit card fraudsters. The thing is, it's very easy for crooks to exploit the vulnerability of the whole chain, when they have found the weak point of a particular outlet.

So, how do merchants store the credit card data of their customers? When your plastic is swiped, merchants get some pieces of information like your account number, and a verification code that credit card companies use for confirmation of this transaction.

This very code should not be stored at the computer system of the merchant, but some companies store this information and it results in various troubles. If the worst has happened and a crook will gain access to credit card data, it will be possible to make credit card copies that can be accepted at stores.

Credit cards are almost vital for restaurants, as most diners prefer pay with their plastics. However, dining locations pose certain threats for plastics. To be more exact, they are one of those few places where your card may come into wrong hands of dishonest employees. Still, such cases are so rare and they do not affect so many people as credit card theft by hackers.

So, what can you do to protect yourself from fraudulent activities at dining locations? Fortunately enough, credit card offers come with lots of safeguards like credit report freeze, and disposable credit numbers.

However, restaurants in their turn take steps to prevent credit card fraud, i.e. portable credit card scanners that allow charging the sum right in front of the visitors. This way, customers may feel sure that their personal data won't be stolen by dishonest employees.

Anyway, Visa takes steps towards eliminating credit card theft. All the Visa's merchants have to confirm that they store only proper information. Otherwise, they will be subject to huge fines. By all means, merchants are not interested in fines, so they do their best to prevent credit theft at their companies.

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