When is It Safe to Offer Your Credit Card Number? (cont.)
Contributed by Deborah Zeitler
Don't offer your credit card number to identity thieves!
When you offer your credit card to pay for a purchase at a store, the cashier swipes it through their computerized equipment, which sends the information that the store needs to debit your credit card account. The form that you sign afterwards is simply a further guarantee that it's a legitimate purchase. Look carefully at the form you sign - only the last four numbers of your credit card number should appear there, the others should actually appear as X's.
If they don't, at this point it's perfectly legal for you to use your pen to black out the first twelve digits of your card number. This prevents an unscrupulous store employee from providing your number to an identity thief.
The best time to offer your credit card for a purchase
Perhaps the best time to offer your credit card to pay for a purchase, is when it truly is an emergency - besides preventing the information on it from being misused, it will also go a long way toward protecting your credit!
