Stolen Credit Card?

Stolen Credit Card?

Yep, probably everyone has had their credit card stolen... even you and it is probably happening right now.  Even if your credit cards are safe and sound in your wallet/purse and you never let them out of your sight, your credit card information could be in the hands of a bad guy right now.  If you pay with cash at restaurants, check for card readers attached to ATMs and gas pumps, and only shop online at reputable sites, you are still in danger.   Not just your credit card, but mine too!  How?  We are not the ones to blame for negligence; the stores that we shop at have a hard time keeping things safe. 

If you were sitting in a room full of people and asked, "How many of you have ever pooped your pants; raise your hand!"  No one would raise their hand, why because it is embarrassing.  No one is going to admit that they pooped their pants, not even admitting that they did it as toddlers.  Now, go into a room full of the CEOs of your favorite stores (and maybe least favorite) and ask, "Has my credit card number ever been stolen from your database?"  Many of those CEOs would rather admit that they poop their pants, before telling you that they have lost your credit card to an attacker.  Why? Because it is not only embarrassing, but it is bad for the company's image.  Are you going to shop at your favorite store if they lost your credit card numbers to Internet hackers?  No, way!  Who has lost credit card information and not told you?  Many businesses are not going to come forward and say they lost your card.  They either keep silent hoping that no one will find out about their breach in security or pay an extortioner to keep silent about the breach to the public.  This is not a conspiracy theory, just check it out, TJX (the parent company of Marshalls and T.J. Maxx): 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21454847/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/tjx-breach-could-top-million-accounts/

Now that a hacker has 94 Million plus credit cards, what is he going to do with them?  No, not buy stuff, the hacker is going to sell them on the black market to someone overseas who wants to buy stuff.  You may be historical at this point wanting to buy life lock, but don't worry.  Using a credit card to purchase laptops from the US and getting them to Russia is hard work, so thankfully your credit card is safe (even though it has been stolen).  How come it is safe?  Well, the likely hood that your credit card will be used to purchase anything is highly unlikely.  Every inch of most cities are being recorded, so if someone uses your credit card to purchase a item at the local Wall-to-Wall Mart they are going to get caught.  Attackers from other countries have to buy goods in the U.S. and then use transhippers (people tricked into shipping stolen goods to other parts of the world) to obtain their prize.  Thank goodness many US online retailers do not ship overseas or we would all be in trouble.

You maybe wondering what exactly these thieves do with the credit cards that they attempt to use.  Usually, these theieves will try purchasing something small on a credit card to see if the victim notices.  If it goes undetected then, they start making more purchases.  Check your accounts often; do it every day.  Also, maybe get some identity theft protection because some of those in-store-credit-cards that you get also have social security numbers attached to them.  All that personal information is funneled to criminals who love making life miserable for the rest of us. 

Good Luck and Stay Safe!