Identity theft – bad practices in our shops/ banks
For a while now I’ve been uncomfortable with the practise of many shops embossing my debit / credit card details following a purchase, even after it’s been swiped and the transaction cleared, or even requiring a photocopy of my ID document. From my experience in IT and trying to set up an online shopping system for a previous employer, I know that the only requirement is for the seller to somehow prove that the card was present during the transaction – hence filling in the CVS numbers in an online credit card transaction. That means if my card was swiped and the transaction cleared, there’s no need for the cashier with zero security clearance to still make a copy of the only detail on my card needed to complete another transaction.
So, I had some spare time, and did the neighbourly thing and googled it for you, as irrefutable proof of aforementioned statements ;-P
This article on IOL features an interview with advocate Charles Pillay, the Ombudsman for Banking Services, who says it’s under no circumstances required for any institution to make a photocopy of your ID book, with the exception of high value bank transactions. This means that even the bank does not need to copy you ID left right & center (like they do when collecting your cards). having said that, they are a low risk in terms of identity theft, being a supposedly secure environment with those personnel having some sort of security clearance.
That however is a completely different story at the retailers where anyone from rent-a-temp staff to job hoppers are making ( and supposedly filing it in a “proper” way ) your ID book & card details. Here is an article specifically on embossing card numbers and I even found a PDF on a government site relating to the same issue.
In my recent article, I talk about the fact that online credit card theft often results in 600 hours of work on the victim’s part to fix the damage. Amazing isn’t it? What could you have done in those 600 hours?