Identity Theft at Metro Diner?

[Lunican]

Watch out for the bank ATM card skimmers!

http://gizmodo.com/#!5453857/atm-card-skimmers-are-getting-frighteningly-sophisticated

[Lucasjj]

There was a string of ATM skimming taking place in Jacksonville not to long ago. I have a frend in the electronics industry and he was used to help law enforcement in their investigation. The skimmer was put over the regular card reading slot and a small camera was being placed above the keypad. The devices are just stuck on with a double sided tape of sorts so that they could be be put on and retrieved very quickly. I advise that whenever you use an ATM to give the area you put your card in a good shake to ensure there is nothing altered there.

[Dog Walker]

Just got off the phone with a friend of mine who just had this happen to him at 'town in Avondale.  He gave his AmEx card to the server before the dessert course to keep his friend from grabbing the check.  It was out of his hands for about thirty minutes.

The next day he's looking at his charges and finds $1 charged at 'town and later that night $2500 run through Paypal on that card for some electronics company in California.  A call to AmEx stopped the charge, but they said it would take a couple of days to research the party involved through Paypal.

He thinks the $1 charge was to see what the credit limit on the card was.

In most places in Europe, they come to your table with a handheld device that runs your card without it leaving your sight.

Be careful out there!

Turns out this quite probably did NOT occur at 'town and the only charge through 'town was for his excellent dinner.  The PayPal activity might not be connected through the charges at 'town at all.

My apologies for passing on this story before getting all of the information straight.  This is exactly the way that the internet can hurt the reputation of perfectly innocent parties.

That thumping noise you hear is me kicking myself.

[Jaxson]

I did not have much of a problem the last time that I ate at Metro Diner.  Someone else paid my tab.  I was more concerned, however, about how the back room is a fire hazard.  All of the tables are jammed together - making it hard for the wait staff and for the customers to move around.  I would hope that an emergency does not happen there.
Back to the topic, however, how could one safeguard against this kind of identity theft other than paying with cash?  Is it always the server who is the one who is handling the card?  Or are their multiple hands that are making contact with the card?

[BridgeTroll]

Cash is still king...

[thekillingwax]

It's usually the server in most places. Machine skimming is starting to pick up more around here though. FTU had an article last month that talked about several stations that had been caught with skimmers in the gas pumps. I've started a habit of any time I put in my pin, I completely cover my "dialing" hand with either my wallet or a piece of paper. The cameras that capture the pins are pretty much always mounted above the keypad. The really sophisticated fake keypads some groups are putting on ATM machines don't work with gas pumps.

[Dog Walker]

I wonder what is going to happen when smart phones are enabled to be used as charge cards.  Bluetooth skimmers?

[Shwaz]

Two pages of posts and Rick Scott hasn't been named a suspect in the Metro Diner scheme... kinda surprised.

[copperfiend]

Cash is still king...

But cash doesn't get me rewards points like my credit card does.

[ChriswUfGator]

Two pages of posts and Rick Scott hasn't been named a suspect in the Metro Diner scheme... kinda surprised.

He moved on to fleece an entire state, he doesn't have to worry about small theft anymore...There is that better? Lol

[hillary supporter]

Just got off the phone with a friend of mine who just had this happen to him at 'town in Avondale.  He gave his AmEx card to the server before the dessert course to keep his friend from grabbing the check.  It was out of his hands for about thirty minutes.

The next day he's looking at his charges and finds $1 charged at 'town and later that night $2500 run through Paypal on that card for some electronics company in California.  A call to AmEx stopped the charge, but they said it would take a couple of days to research the party involved through Paypal.

He thinks the $1 charge was to see what the credit limit on the card was.

In most places in Europe, they come to your table with a handheld device that runs your card without it leaving your sight.

Be careful out there!

Turns out this quite probably did NOT occur at 'town and the only charge through 'town was for his excellent dinner.  The PayPal activity might not be connected through the charges at 'town at all.

My apologies for passing on this story before getting all of the information straight.  This is exactly the way that the internet can hurt the reputation of perfectly innocent parties.

That thumping noise you hear is me kicking myself.

Dont kick too hard... your humility restored my confidence in 'town!

[Timkin]

Two pages of posts and Rick Scott hasn't been named a suspect in the Metro Diner scheme... kinda surprised.

He moved on to fleece an entire state, he doesn't have to worry about small theft anymore...There is that better? Lol

Who would have thunk it ?  Our esteemed Governor fleecing all of us . scumbag

[Zee]

I wonder if this is what happened to my friend and some of his co-workers. So sad that people do dirty things like this.

I have become tired of the access companies can have to my account (consented, as in to pay my bills and some the ONLY way companies allow me to pay my bills). Makes me just want to have another account so monies can be pulled from that and not affect my primary account. Once when my parents were on a cruise, funds concerning the cruise were frozen in their account and it caused problems for other bills being paid out. Outside entities shouldn't have that kinda control over our accounts. Apologies for the tiny thread hijack/venting but when people's money is being stolen it ticks me off. Makes me think of other ways money is being bothered screwing up  finances and causing havoc that has to be cleaned up. :/

[Brian Siebenschuh]

I've been meaning for quite some time now to look into portable handheld credit / debit terminals for Orsay.  They're de rigueur in Europe - any restaurant I've been to in France, when you're ready to tab out, you ask for "the machine" (as in "les machine, si's vous plait?").  The server brings over a little wireless terminal, runs your card without it leaving your site, offers it to you to input your PIN, and prints your ticket right at the table.

Generally speaking, transactions processed as debit are cheaper for the business owner (given a lower instance of fraud on a PIN based transaction vs. a signature based transaction which really doesn't verify anything), which is the real reason I'm interested in exploring the idea.  Credit card processing is enormously expensive, and we all know that all costs of doing business ultimately get passed along to the consumer - even if you're getting 1% back on your purchases, or any other kind of "rewards", the cost of everything you buy is currently 2% or 3% more than it would be if plastic wasn't such a prevalent mode of payment, which is a very recent phenomenon.  You're paying for those air miles or that monthly rebate, one way or another.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?  Would you find it preferable to handing your card over to a server that takes it away to run it?

[ProjectMaximus]

Yes, processing done at the table would be preferable if it's an option.

I've been meaning for quite some time now to look into portable handheld credit / debit terminals for Orsay.  They're de rigueur in Europe - any restaurant I've been to in France, when you're ready to tab out, you ask for "the machine" (as in "les machine, si's vous plait?").  The server brings over a little wireless terminal, runs your card without it leaving your site, offers it to you to input your PIN, and prints your ticket right at the table.

Generally speaking, transactions processed as debit are cheaper for the business owner (given a lower instance of fraud on a PIN based transaction vs. a signature based transaction which really doesn't verify anything), which is the real reason I'm interested in exploring the idea.  Credit card processing is enormously expensive, and we all know that all costs of doing business ultimately get passed along to the consumer - even if you're getting 1% back on your purchases, or any other kind of "rewards", the cost of everything you buy is currently 2% or 3% more than it would be if plastic wasn't such a prevalent mode of payment, which is a very recent phenomenon.  You're paying for those air miles or that monthly rebate, one way or another.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?  Would you find it preferable to handing your card over to a server that takes it away to run it?