07.07.09
By John Ulzheimer
Funny and true story: My mother won’t buy anything online because she's concerned about putting her credit card number “"out there" for the world to see. But she will hand her card to a waiter who disappears for the next seven minutes. I try to explain data encryption and other methods of security that far exceed handing your
credit card to some kid, but to no avail. Alas, I’ve never brought up skimming because I don’t want her to stop eating out.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term “
skimming,” you should be. Skimming is the process whereby an identity thief runs your credit card through what appears to be a credit card reader and captures the card’s information. Once the skimmer device is full of stolen numbers, the thief sells it to someone who then uses the data to perform illegal charges. Skimming is a problem in the restaurant environment and sometimes waiters are the culprits because of their access to your credit card information.
I’m not telling you this so you can change your restaurant habits. I’m telling you this because educated consumers are less likely to be victimized to these identity predators. So what is a consumer to do when they visit their favorite eatery? Unfortunately, you don’t have many options other than paying in cash or following your waiter to the back to watch them run your credit card.
Fast forward to this past weekend. I took my family to the Georgia Aquarium and then out to dinner afterward. We eat out often. So often, in fact, that I’m probably more at risk of being skimmed than anyone else in Atlanta. You can imagine my surprise and joy when the waiter walked up and handed me a portable credit card processing machine right at my table.
That’s right. I swiped my own card, filled in my tip, printed my copy, and handed him back his machine. He never once took possession of my card and, more importantly, never disappeared for the next seven minutes. So bravo to you, Legal Seafood. If you meant to help prevent skimming then I’m beyond impressed. If you implemented the “at the table” check out for another reason, then be advised that it has a secondary, and more important, effect.
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