ATTENTION ONLINE HOBBYSHOPS!!!!!

In fact they (the retailer) *should* look up the bank/card company number in the phone book rather than rely on a number supplied by the "customer". Otherwise the crooks could supply a number that *they* will answer, and it's "Yes, Mr. Hobby Horse, that card number IS valid, and no, there's no report of it being stolen." Obviously takes some organisation by the crooks, but even so....

Uh...you failed to grasp the reason they ask for this number. It's like this: suppose that you order a pizza, and give the Visa card number to the kid who takes the order. He happens to write it down twice -- once for the pizza, once for later use himself. He goes home and tries to order something...and finds he needs the bank phone #. Without the card, he doesn't know which bank it's from, and gets stuck.

Same deal with the 3-digit confirmation code, etc.

Of course, as CC numbers get stolen during electronic transactions, these sorts of checks are less and less useful (since the elec. transaction now contains the bank-phone-no, or whatever else). But they're a modest effort at slowing fraud -- not necessarily a bad thing.

--John

"Peter Baylinson" wrote

Thanks, Pete. I'll have to pick up one of those pocket/credit card sized magnifiers with a light built-in. I'll wait until they hit the dollar stores, then by a dozen or two of them.

Ed Cregger

Bullshit. We all have to pay for things that are purchased fraudulently. Merchants don't just give that stuff away, they raise the prices paid by the rest of us to cover the losses.

It just amazes me how many people think the merchant doesn't pass on these expenses to the consumer in the form of higher prices. It makes me curious yet fearful to see what their personal financial accounts look like.

Do you honestly think that anyone capable of balancing a checkbook doesn't know this? It is a given.

But I refuse to let businesses pass on their operational worries to me. Big difference. I don't want to hear about their high rental expenses, their employee pilferage, etc. I have enough of my own problems. Keep it to themselves and stop trying to make me do something about a problem that they should be dealing with.

Ed Cregger

Well, since you made a very plain statement to the contrary, does that mean you aren't capable of balancing a checkbook, or are you just making statements you know to be false for dramatic effect?

They are dealing with it. You just don't seem to like the way they're dealing with it. You should express your concerns to the businesses in question and/or take your business elsewhere.

Quite right. Crime is the default means of wealth redistribution in a society that dislikes socialism ;-)

No, it just means that you are feeling mean today and are having fun kicking Ed around. I have my days too. Me, I don't feel like playing anymore. Let's talk about model airplanes.

You should go take a double dose of laxative. I guarantee that your day will improve afterwards.

Ed Cregger

Grant knew exactly what I meant and in the proper context. He's constipated and is taking it out on me.

Ed Cregger

No, I quite honestly thought that you meant that credit card fraud wasn't costing you anything: I thought that when you wrote "I don't have to pay for X" you meant that you didn't have to pay for X.

Well, I guess that explains it then. You take everything literally and without recognition of sarcasm, etc.

I'm too tired to play, Grant. Maybe some other time.

Ed Cregger

I would hope it is a given yet, I constantly see evidence to the contrary.

I would like to see how you accomplish this. Since they pass their operational worries on to you every time you go to the check out counter. And by paying the prices you do, you willingly accept those worries.

Like I said, evidence to the contrary!

And socialism is nothing more than a means of raping an otherwise healthy economy. Not to mention destroying the will of the people. Haven't seen too many like Bill Gates come out of the UK in the last century.

That's the way it looked from here too!

For which the world can be profoundly thankful...

Come on, Chuck. Reread what I said. I know you can do it.

I already acknowledged that it is obvious that we pay MONEY to compensate for their losses. I'm saying that I am not willing to pay EMOTIONALLY for their troubles. I want them to keep them to themselves. Signs of weakness, such as unconventional hoops to put the customer through when making a purchase, extract an emotional investment that I am not willing to pay. I can't make it any clearer than that.

Have a nice day everyone.

Ed Cregger

Richard Branson may not have quite as much money as Bill Gates, but at least he has some style.