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Identity Theft Concerns On A Saturday Night
By Molly's Brother | November 19, 2006
I am increasingly aware of [tag]identity theft[/tag] concerns as I go through the day, so I was amazed at what I saw when I was out with friends last night. We went to a popular bar in Los Angeles. It was a Saturday night. Milling through the crowd were a couple of women who carried these electronic devices that were roughly the size of a brick. (They look similar to the machines bouncers now use to swipe your card to make sure your ID is legit.)
I watched them with a heightened level of curiosity. At first glance, I wondered why this woman had such a large PDA/cell phone. I almost approached her to ask what the device was. As I waited and watched, I saw her approach people who were smoking. These individuals then handed their drivers licenses over to her. She swiped it through the machine and took an infrared photo of each license. When she was done, she handed them a free pack of cigarettes from her bag.
Granted, I am a bit more paranoid about identity issues than the guy next to me. However, I was amazed at how easily people were handing over their identity cards to be scanned and photographed–all for a free pack of cigarettes!
Other than the brick-sized computers they carried and the bag full of cigarettes that one of them lugged around, they had no identifying documents linking them to a cigarette promotion.
I was stunned at how easily people gave up their personal information.
Was this a scam? I don’t know. Was it a legitimate promotion? I have no idea. Either way, I would always err on the side of caution (I don’t even let bouncers swipe my license).
Topics: Personal Finance |
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:25 pm
It’s called a skimming machine. You are right…..I would be suspicious too and not give them that info. They can now copy it onto their information.
So scary!
December 3rd, 2006 at 7:18 am
Yeah. I get incredibly nervous when I see people do this. I think they don’t understand the long-term implications of their drunken actions.