EARLY WARNING - Credit Card Theft

EARLY WARNING

Credit Card Theft


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting – June 2011

I received this mail from a colleague and now pass it on in an attempt to halt this particular type of theft. The article appears to have been taken from the website http://www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/spears_m.

“A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card. The bill for the meal came, he signed it and that the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along with the receipt. Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket.

Funny enough though, he actually took a look at the card and ‘lo and behold’, it was the expired card of another person. He called the waitress back and she looked perplexed.

She took it back and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man. All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card.

No exchange of words . . . nothing! The waitress took it and came back to the man with an apology.

Verdict!
Make sure that the credit cards in your wallet are yours. Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time.

Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, assuming that it has to be theirs.

For your own sake, develop the habit of checking your credit card each time it is returned to you after a transaction.”

Good advice, whichever way you look at it.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za