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Posted
May 12 2009, 06:02 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.
Do you know why credit cards have an expiration date? In the beginning, it was because a credit card had a limited useful lifespan. After a few years, the magnetic stripe on the back would either get demagnetized or damaged so much that it was unreadable.
It wasn't until later that the expiration date was used as a security feature. For many years, you could continue to use expired credit cards because the stripe was fine and the expiration date wasn't used for verification.
So what are you to do with an expired card? You have to destroy it, of course. In our age of identity theft and fraud, only a fool would throw a credit card into the trash without cutting it up first. However, with the economy the way it is and the value of credit card numbers going up, it's important to properly destroy a credit card.
There are two crucial parts of a credit card -- information embossed on the front of the card and the information encoded in the magnetic stripe on the back of the card. Not surprisingly, both locations contain the same information, which is merely displayed differently to the typical "reader." When you want to destroy a card, it's important to destroy both sources of information, and this article will explain how.
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Posted
Apr 29 2009, 08:52 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
It didn't take scammers long to latch on to the latest hot-button topic to try to make a quick buck. Scams built on fears of swine flu are proliferating quickly across the Internet.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued an alert this week warning of a number of e-mail scams related to the swine flu. The attacks arrive via an unsolicited e-mail message typically containing a subject line related to the swine flu.
"These e-mail messages may contain a link or an attachment. If users click on this link or open the attachment, they may be directed to a phishing Web site or exposed to malicious code," the alert said.
US-CERT encourages users to take the following measures to protect themselves:
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Posted
Jun 15 2009, 06:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly.
Recently I had lunch with Hardy, a Get Rich Slowly reader here in Portland, Ore. We chatted about life (and personal finance) over burgers and fries. He generously offered to pay the bill. When the waitress returned with the credit card slip, she asked to see his driver's license.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
"Asking for my ID?" said Hardy. I nodded. He flipped over his credit card and showed it to me. He'd written "see ID" where his signature ought to be.
"Does that work?" I asked.
"Some of the time," he said. "It gives you an idea of which places are paying attention. But not every place will accept it. It's technically against the rules because the card has to be signed. Plus, businesses aren't really allowed to ask to see your ID."
"What do you do if they refuse to take your card?" I asked.
"I carry a backup," Hardy said. "This is my main card. My backup card has my signature, but I rarely have to use it. The only place that I know will refuse the main card every time is the post office. I have to use a signed card there."
I was intrigued by this attempt to thwart identity theft, so when I got home I asked my Twitter followers:
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Posted
Jul 14 2009, 04:15 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A bank in South Africa equipped 11 of its ATMs with pepper spray to deter crooks from blowing them up or installing a card-skimming device.
Unfortunately, pepper spray was released during routine maintenance on one of the ATMs, necessitating medical treatment for three innocent people, Web site IOL reports.
Readers were not impressed with the new security feature. "Imagine getting sprayed by a malfunctioning ATM. At which point you will be an easy target if any muggers are around," one anonymous commenter wrote.
Reader "MrDickens" said, "Oh man, PLEASE let me get sprayed by mistake. I relish the opportunity to sue a bank. Imagine getting a bank to pay YOU money."
Maybe this remedy to ATM fraud has a few bugs. But banks are increasingly nervous as attacks on the security of ATMs escalate.
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Posted
Feb 04 2009, 05:04 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Did you notice that the headline didn't say "prevent" identity theft? There is no foolproof way to stop this crime -- which is always evolving -- but you can take steps to make it more difficult.
David at Money Ning offers 40 tips that will increase your chances of not being ripped off.
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Posted
Dec 29 2008, 10:53 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com.
The year 2008 has been marked by economic turmoil -- high gas prices, followed by the subprime mortgage crisis, which in turn triggered a full-scale financial meltdown. It's been a fertile year for the world's scammers, who find fear and desperation helpful.
This year, there were a few new scams and a lot of old ones, some cleverly repackaged for a new year and new circumstances. By far the biggest scam -- perhaps the biggest ever -- was the Bernard Madoff investment scandal.
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Posted
Jan 14 2009, 02:17 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You may be on the verge of becoming a major victim of identity theft if small charges you can't account for -- often under a dollar -- appear on your credit card.
Blogger Andrea luckily noticed some strange charges when she reviewed a rarely used credit card account online. She described how she thwarted identity thieves in a post at Fools and Sages.
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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 03:28 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.
Why, when we're confronted, do we tend to blurt out the truth, even when it works to our disadvantage to do so? Chaucer had it right when he said that "truth is the highest thing that Man may keep." Sometimes we should keep it to ourselves.
Asked in the right way, we'll often reveal private, sensitive information that's strictly none of anyone's business, that's valuable to people trying to manipulate us into buying products and services, and that can be used to pester or even harass us. Warranty cards with long lists of personal questions are especially egregious: What about your favorite sporting event and the magazines you read is needed to guarantee a flashlight's performance? And how often do you give your phone number to companies that have no need to know it?
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Posted
Jun 06 2008, 04:54 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Most of us -- or so we hope -- are aware of credit reports. But did you know about other databases that contain histories of your insurance claims, medical care and other personal information? "Isn't it scary how much of your information is floating around out there?" says Jonathan at My Money Blog, who explains how you can get these reports for free. Since they're used to determine how much you pay for -- and sometimes whether you get -- insurance and other necessities, it may be worth your time to find out if the information in these reports is accurate. It's bad enough that a prospective insurer can find out you're being treated for "American Idol" addiction, and even worse if you're really not.
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Posted
Feb 04 2009, 12:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"FFB" at Free From Broke was preaching to the choir when he wrote "9 reasons why you need an online high-yield savings account," although we have to admit our account is only several months old.
Whenever we look at how much interest we've earned, we could kick ourselves. Why didn't we do this several years ago?
In fact, FFB's No. 1 reason for going online with your savings is that "brick-and-mortar interest sucks."
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