mhg83

So i just go home from a best buy. I purchased a videogame. I was about to scan my debit card when the cashier said she'll swipe it on her register. I just thought at the time that maybe the one i was going to swipe is used only with credit cards. But then i thought that it seemed kinda weird for her to swipe my debit card on her register since i dont think thats ever been done at other best buy stores. Now i'm worried that she may have stolen my debit card. Is this possible or am i just overreacting?

fujishig

Did you use your debit card as a credit card (ie: no PIN number)? Doesn't seem all that unusual to me...

shacmasta

It's been done countless times to me. I think it all depends on the register. I think your looking too much into it.

mhg83

no. i put in my pin number after she swiped the card

TruBuffyFan

I worked there... i used to take people's cards all the time because it goes through faster if I scan it because u get to skip like 3 steps... Rather then telling customers "hit enter" "is that correct?" "Stand on ur head, jump 3 times and prey it goes through"

Me doing it was way easier!

iamiam

Call up your bank, close the account just to be sure.

fumanstan

And then go back to Best Buy and throw a fit. And call the local news too about it.

domino harvey

I actually do this after every transaction

the Chief

Whatever you do though, dont reach for the manager's pen.

Goldblum

Are you serious?

Tarantino

Yes, it's normal. No, you weren't scammed.

= J

iamiam

If you want to be extra careful, move and change your name.

ardathbey

Also to be safe, mail me your debit card. OH! and we'll need some pics of the girl too. You know, just to be safe.

mhg83

you always hear stories about devices that can record your number. I just thought that might be the case here. I feel much better now. I think I can be a little paranoid at times.

DVD Josh

Just a tad.

Jah-Wren Ryel

You'd feel much better if you ripped that debit card up and used a credit card instead.
There are only two groups of people who should use debit cards and oddly enough,
people who are members of the first group they often end up as members of the second group:
1) People who do not have financial discipline and spend credit like water and then end up drowning in debt.
2) People who have such a poor credit record that they do not qualify for a credit card.

Everyone else would be better served by using credit cards for at least these reasons:

1) Float - your money earns interest in the bank between the time you charge the card and you have to pay the bill

2) Federal law protects you from fraudulent charges -- max with a credit card is $50, max with a debit card -- the entire balance of your checking account (and your savings account if you have overdraft protection). You have no law to protect you if your debit card is stolen and used, only bank policies that can be changed at will if (for example) the customer service people don't like you or are just having a bad day.

3) Even then, none of the debit card fraud protection policies will cover you for things like NSF fees on bounced checks or any of the other more costly side-effects of having your account drained unbeknowst to you.

4) Holds on your cash - when you rent a car with a debit card, most rental agencies will put very large "holds" on your account as collateral for the vehicle. You still have the money in the bank, but you can't spend it on anything. Many will put similar holds on your credit card - but that's not your money they are playing with, its your bank's.

In general, it is better to spend (and risk) other people's money (via credit) than it is to spend your own.

Sparrow

Paranoia has its place, I don't think this is a situation to be concerned about. They do this all the time at my local BB.

DeadMADMAN

Please post your debit card number and social security number so one of us can check.

Seriously though, at my Best Buy they used to have the person at the register always swipe it. Only in the last 2 years or so did they have the customer do it.

calhoun07

The stories I've heard with those things it's somebody pretending to be the employee...such as an outside cafe and somebody comes to your table to take your card and they swipe it on the machine and you think you paid then your waiter comes looking for their money.

Or those devices are set up on ATMs to scam information, usually after hours or on weekends when employees aren't at the bank to service the ATM, then it's removed before the employees come back to work.

As for Best Buy, I've had them scan the card at their register more than a few times.

Mikael79

My Best Buy usually has to do this all the time, due to the fact that the customer card scanner almost never works.

I wouldn't even think twice about it.

Xbox69

So what would the point of that be? If someone was posing as an employee and it was discovered only a few minutes later, than the card would surely be cancelled.

The report I saw it was an actual employee of the restaurant running the scam. The card was being swiped and the bill was getting paid but the info was being intercepted at the same time.

neiname

You do realize that giving your credit card to a waiter is just asking them to memorize not only the number but also the elusive 3 digit "security code" on the back. I wouldn't worry about the cashier at Bestbuy.

Kory

When I worked at Hollywood Video, a co-worker of mine was ringing up people's totals, taking their cash payments and acting like he was putting them in the register, giving them change, but the orders never went through because he would just cancel them and then pop the register to make it look like a transaction went through. I actually found him out because there was a pattern of people returning movies that had never actually been checked out. Apparently security had been onto him too, because about a week after I noticed these strange happenings, some company higher ups came in, brought him into the office, and he confessed to everything. They didn't press charges though, just made him repay everything, luckily for him. Very stupid though all around.

Sorry, not the same thing, but there's always somebody out there looking to screw someone over.

DeadMADMAN

I used to work at a call center doing balance transfers for credit cards. There was a story, not sure if its true, that there was an employee that had done a few balance transfers from his credit card to the customers credit card. As you can imagine, all of that is documented and can be discovered easily. Sounds unbelievable but if you knew the quality of workers that we had there, its not that far fetched.

Mosskeeto

An example that I recall took place a few years ago here in NYC:

Credit card theft at Bloomingdale's
"A sharp eyed tourist from Greece buying sunglasses at Bloomingdale's
foiled an alleged credit card scam. An investigation is continuing to
determine how many credit card numbers are stored on a Palm Pilot that
is believed to belong to Tania Ventura, a cashier at the Manhattan
department store. The tourist noticed his card was swiped twice when
he purchased sunglasses. After swiping a credit card through the
store's credit card device, Ventura allegedly swiped it a second time
through a credit card scanner attached to her Palm Pilot. Ventura was
charged with criminal possession of forgery devices, unlawful
duplication of computer data, criminal possession of computer material
and criminal possession of stolen property."