November 9th, 2005
Truly Unbelievable Credit Card Pranks: Be Very Afraid
Every day another bank or business announces that it has %%$%-ed up and lost millions of credit card numbers and other extremely sensitive customer data. We mentioned that one of the culprits behind the problem was not online processing but in the way information is stored in the magnetic strip you physically swipe the card with. In most cases, physical foul ups are behind most identity theft.
But this one, you are not going to believe:
If all that isn’t scary enough, here’s a series of real life pranks by a guy from Zug.com who wanted to see just how important credit security was when he used his card at various stores and restaurants. He starts out slow - signing names other than his own, advances to wacky names like Beethoven, and even devolved into drawing ducks, hieroglyphics, and as shown here, a little grid picture. None of it mattered. (The photos are hilarious.)
Eventually he started signing blatant theft announcements like “I found this in the trash - woo hoo” and “I stole this card.” Again, no one blinked an eye.
Best of all, he took on those digital signing machines you use at the supermarket and not only signed his name “butthole” and other foul phrases, neither the clerk or machine ever seemed to notice (didn’t you think it did some sort of signature check?). He even drew a little musical bar with notes in place of his signature, much to the dismay of the shoppers in line . In every case, the charges were approved and appeared on his state,ent.
Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, don’t it? Anyway, you have to read it. Sometimes, it just hurts so much, you just have to laugh.
Read Part One Here
Read Part Two here
Keith says:
That guy is my new hero. The most daring misinformation I’ll give is a fake email address of blah@blah.com when registering at sites that are obvious spamers (like those news web sites that require registration).
June 20th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
Alice says:
He did one that was just this crazy and HUGE insane scribble. And he siad the waiter never even noticed. It looked like he had had a fit or something.
June 20th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
Lockergnome's Tech News Watch says:
Truly Unbelievable Credit Card Pranks
Here’s a series of real life pranks by a guy from Zug.com who wanted to see just how important credit security was when he used his card at various stores and restaurants. He starts out slow - signing names other than his own, advances to wacky names l…
June 20th, 2005 at 2:45 pm
Alice says:
I always put my phone or fax # as 555-1212 but had no idea you coudl take things this far.
June 20th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Jason says:
I wonder if someone would have a valid claim against their credit card company if purchases were signed for by “George Washington” or “Fozzy Bear”. Could someone buy a major item, like an HDTV or computer system, sign a bogus signature, then claim that the card was lost/stolen? Store security cams might prevent that (”Uh, Mr. Jones, that IS you signing at the register!”), but then again, most stores have baloney security cam systems.
June 20th, 2005 at 4:03 pm
Alice says:
Read part two - he signed “I do not authorize” at Circuit city and “Mariah Crarey” and on and on. Made no difference
June 20th, 2005 at 9:57 pm
Peter says:
Actually, re-read the last part again, Alice. When he tried to get $16,000 charged to his credit card by signing “_NOT_ Authorized” at Circuit City, the people there actually noticed and stopped him.
His conclusion? People only care about your credit card signature if you’re buying big-ticket items.
June 21st, 2005 at 6:34 am
Louie says:
SCARYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
June 21st, 2005 at 6:43 am
Boojumhunter says:
The one thing that comes to mind whenever I see this story posted: Why does he still have these original receipts? Whenever I sign my life away, the vendor gets the signed copy. Frequently, the small authorizing machines print the same receipt twice, so I get an exact (albeit unsigned) duplicate of the slip the vendor has.
It’s not wholly outside the realm of possibility, but I doubt he’s taking a photo of each signed credit slip before turning them over.
June 21st, 2005 at 11:19 am
Boojumhunter says:
Aha - never read the 2nd article. Seems he does take photos first. Awesome!
June 21st, 2005 at 11:22 am
Peter says:
Actually, if you went to the website and read the articles — he did take a camera with him to all these outings and took photographs of his signatures before handing the receipts over. Nobody ever questioned him about his photographing his receipts, either.
June 21st, 2005 at 12:21 pm
Alice says:
I know. So, you write I stole this card,l take a photo and you still get to leave the restaurant paid up. Scary!
June 21st, 2005 at 12:56 pm
Dorene says:
I Am TRULY amazed at this situation! Horrified in fact.
June 21st, 2005 at 10:21 pm
M. Freeman says:
Well, I can go one better. I have changed my signature that I use on my checks to pay my monthly bills many times over the years, but I haven’t gone to the bank to change it officially. I’ve even used a totally unreadible scrawl that is not much more than a wavey line. Result, the bank has been honoring EVERY check I’ve ever written. Go figure!
M. Freeman
June 22nd, 2005 at 12:35 pm
Andy says:
It’s surprising for as popular as this story is, I haven’t seen any stores change their verification policies. The bottom line is that efficiency is most important…the more customers the more product is sold. There certainly don’t seem to be any ramifications for vendors not properly verifying identities from banks or CC companies either. Remember, credit card companies and banks are not looking out for you…you have to look out for yourself! If this doesn’t prove it, then I don’t know what does.
June 22nd, 2005 at 10:24 pm
Fred says:
It’s just money.
June 23rd, 2005 at 5:58 am
Peter says:
Actually, merchant banks have policies that heavily favors the credit card holder. If, for any reason, a credit card holder disputes the charges unless the merchant can show undeniable proof that the credit card holder actually did, in fact, get what they bought, the merchant bank’s going to refund the money and fine the merchant, as well.
Signatures don’t actually matter much, BTW — the stores keeps a record of “strange” receipts and keep them in case anyone needs them for evidence, but otherwise doesn’t do much to them. For checks, banks just put it through the check reader and scan the image for sending back. It is up to the customer to verify that the check actually was written by themselves and inform the bank if it wasn’t the case.
June 23rd, 2005 at 7:42 am
David Johnston says:
When I worked at Circuit City I would always check the signature and match it to the back of the credit card. If the card’s signature had been scratched off (from use or whatever) I asked for a signed photo ID (standard procedure). Also, a few people (myself included) write “see ID” as the signature on their cards. I think this gives you some extra security if they actually check. However, most of the time they don’t, especially in places where you swipe the card yourself. I was actually *thanked* by a lady once for asking for her ID when I saw that she had written “see ID” on her card. She said that it was one of the only times someone had actually done that for her. I’ve noticed that people will more frequently check my signature/card, though I think that’s because I’m young. Older people are really the ideal identity thieves because if they dress well and look respectable, most cashiers won’t even bother to check the signatures/ID’s. Scary.
November 9th, 2005 at 9:16 am
Leo says:
I would like to know why they do not just use PINs for credit cards as they do with debit cards. It would seem a lot more secure. I would also think it is about time to make PINs at least 1 digit longer also. 10000 numbers isn’t all that bad of odds to guess from if you try a couple of times.
November 9th, 2005 at 9:54 am
Perros says:
Over here in the UK “Chip and Pin” is the solution. The smart chip on the cards is read and instead of signing, a PIN is entered on a pad which is verified with the card company and smart chip.
This is happening for all cards over here, and its a pretty good idea if you ask me.
-Perros-
November 10th, 2005 at 1:22 am
John says:
“Every day another bank or business announces that it has %%$%-ed up and lost millions of credit card numbers and other extremely sensitive customer data.”
Actually they do their level best to HIDE these MASSIVE screwups from the public and even their customers. In addition, congress helps MINIMIZE their fraud liability. I’ve been the victim of ID theft (the bastard cleaned out my checking account) and although the bank eventually refunded all of the stolen money, they really didn’t seem interested in catching the crook, even AFTER I did a bit of detective work and FOUND the bastard.
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