Electronics

[gazelle77]

I tell the wait person that I will take the card to the cashier. My card does not leave my presence at anytime. You just have to be proactive and not care what anyone thinks when you say this.

[robomo]

I have a protective wallet that I carry not only my credit cards, but ALL my ID in. I feel very safe with it. I only go to restaurants where they know me personally and I feel safe paying with my debit card or credit card.

[Pinkroses]

I bought an aluminum wallet from Amazon that holds all my cards.

[Marsha2003]

I always pay cash at restaurants because of the risk of fraud.

[ChynnaBlue]

A credit card protector only protects your cards from people with scanners, not from waiters who write the card info down or take a picture of the card. I do know someone who had that happen. Luckily, they were able to track down the waiter very easily and arrest him. (It's much harder to find the person when your card info is stolen in other ways.)

The only way to guarantee that doesn't happen to you is to make sure the card doesn't leave your possession. Don't give it to wait staff who will take it away to run it, or, as Gazelle77 said, go with the person who runs the card and watch. You can also have a separate card with a lower limit that you only use in restaurants or gas stations/ATMS (where people can place a card reader over the swiper and copy your info), which will limit the exposure and make it easier to deal with if the card is used fraudulently.

Honestly, this is the kind of credit card fraud I worry about the least.

[dooBdoo]

On 3/5/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

Canada doesn't use Square. Like most places in the world with the exception of backward countries like the US and most of Africa, Canada uses cards with an EMV embedded chip. This is NOT the same as the RFID chips you may have in your credit cards, driver's licenses and passports in the US.

The small machines used in the rest of the real world are brought to your table or to you in a store. If in a RFID sleeve, they must be removed to be scanned. They read the EMV chip and you use a PIN. 4 digit pin used for the credit card is NOT the same as the one used at an ATM. The machines don't 'read' the magnetic stripe. If your card has only a magnetic stripe, it may well be declined or it will have to be taken from you and entered manually at another station in the establishment; alternately, you may end up paying in cash or washing dishes.

Don't get me wrong. Square is very handy. I use it so I can take AMEX transactions for my Tupperware business, as TW doesn't accept AX. It's just not what commercial establishments use in the real world.

You can request a credit card with an EMV chip from your credit card company. I have ones from AMEX and VISA, as I'm often outside the US. Be prepared to pay a fee for one, unless you spend a lot every year.

Square was launched in Canada in autumn 2012, I believe, and is widely used there, in the U.S. and Japan.

[Kachina624]

On 3/5/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

Canada doesn't use Square. Like most places in the world with the exception of backward countries like the US and most of Africa, Canada uses cards with an EMV embedded chip. This is NOT the same as the RFID chips you may have in your credit cards, driver's licenses and passports in the US.

The small machines used in the rest of the real world are brought to your table or to you in a store. If in a RFID sleeve, they must be removed to be scanned. They read the EMV chip and you use a PIN. 4 digit pin used for the credit card is NOT the same as the one used at an ATM. The machines don't 'read' the magnetic stripe. If your card has only a magnetic stripe, it may well be declined or it will have to be taken from you and entered manually at another station in the establishment; alternately, you may end up paying in cash or washing dishes.

Don't get me wrong. Square is very handy. I use it so I can take AMEX transactions for my Tupperware business, as TW doesn't accept AX. It's just not what commercial establishments use in the real world.

You can request a credit card with an EMV chip from your credit card company. I have ones from AMEX and VISA, as I'm often outside the US. Be prepared to pay a fee for one, unless you spend a lot every year.

I used my credit cards with magnetic strip in Canada last fall with no problem at all.

[Deadeye Daisy]

On 3/5/2014 kachina624 said:

I used my credit cards with magnetic strip in Canada last fall with no problem at all.

EMV scanners have been in use for 10 years in Canada and most other countries. The older ones still read magnetic stripes, but are being replaced with newer ones that won't.

Also, ATMs, kiosk and POS machines are being replaced with ones that won't read cards without an EMV.

In other words, if you try to use one to purchase a train ticket, gas, rent a bike etc., you'll get a message that says it can't read your card. Then you have to go to a regular ticket window to a live body to obtain your ticket or gas. Just try to find a live body on a Sunday to pay for gas with cash.