Identity Theft In Restaurants – A Not So Nice Meal

A nice meal or banquet can be ruined by identity theft

Going out for some pasta or a pizza? Foodie beware because a nice steak dinner or a plate of good Italian pasta might result in identity theft in restaurants. Representatives from the credit card company Visa say that the most common place where one’s credit card information can be stolen is at restaurants.

Visa officials added however that the company constantly monitors the transactions of their cardholders to make sure that no fraud occurs. Through Visa’s transaction monitoring system, Visa said that 40% of credit card theft happens in restaurants, with many customers reporting debit card fraud.

Identity Theft In Restaurants – A Growing Concern

Gourmands, according to another study, are not being stolen from by busboys who can easily copy their credit card information but are being ripped off by an identity theft ring. Visa also said that most of the identity theft happens when hackers from organized crime groups break into the computer systems of restaurants –whichever restaurant that may be. All the hackers have to do in such a scenario is download all the information they can get.

Another method, authorities say, is credit card skimming where busboys and waiters skim credit cards of restaurant patrons. The skimming process allows the information to be sent to hackers. Authorities believe that busboys and other restaurant personnel are recruited by the identity theft ring and pay them $20 per credit card they skim.

Visa’s Response To Restaurant Identity Theft

The good news is, Visa is doing its best to crackdown on dining places that do not store credit card data properly. Payment systems risk and compliance department director for Visa, Jennifer Fischer, noted in an interview that the credit card company is unsure why dining places are the main target for such an activity. But she also added that the running theory is that, once the syndicates see a certain vulnerability in a restaurant franchise, they will try it with other branches –exploiting the system, so to speak.

Denial From The Restaurant Industry

The restaurant industry, as expected, is skeptical about the identity theft going on in dining places. The National Restaurant Association in the United States which represents over 900, 000 food outlets said that it was not aware of such problems, but they urge customers to check your credit report regularly to stay aware of their own financial situations.

Todd Mann, the senior VP for the National Restaurant Association’s business development department said that this problem is being dealt with and that the association is doing its best to protect consumer data.

The main reason of syndicates targeting restaurants Mann said is not because of the vulnerability of storage systems in dining places but because there are millions of people who eat out, hence more cases of theft. Mann added that there are 192 million people who dine out on a daily basis making restaurants a great place for mining credit card data.

Hacking into stored data is not a new thing, since it has been happening for years. Recently, a massive crime network was busted in New York. That’s why it’s important to keep your customer information safe!