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From: ceb@csli.stanford.edu (Charles Buckley)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Credit Card ID
Message-ID: <6399@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 14 Apr 90 18:24:26 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 255, Message 6 of 9


   From: glaser@starch.enet.dec.com (Steve Glaser)

   >He said that thousands of retailers all over the country had started
   >asking purchasers to supply a home phone number along with credit card
   >purchases.  He stated that this had no purpose, . . .

   >Actually, if you listen carefully, much of the time they ask for "a
   >phone number".

As it has been explained to me, this is a writing sample - digits are
easier to use in forgery detection than a signature, which is so
different that it lends itself to being practiced.  One writes so many
digits in one's life that it's hard to unlearn, even with practice.

What kills me is that the merchants aren't told this by the credit
card companies, so some of the more obsequious ones, in trying to make
your job of purchasing lighter, ask you for the phone number, and
write it on themselves!

In my experience from having three credit cards stolen from my PO Box
before I could collect them, the fraudulent user unashamedly writes
another number, although I couldn't get the postal investigation
organization to verify if it belonged to the thief.  Guess they
protect their own.


[Moderator's Note: Addressing only the last paragraph of your message:
Not really, they don't. The Chicago Main Post Office has had a few
scandals over the years. The postal inspectors come down very hard on
postal employees who steal from the mail. A major ripoff of Amoco
Credit Cards by postal workers in the early seventies was dealt with
very harshly. In those days, the Amoco Credit Card Processing Office
was in downtown Chicago.   PT]