Gypsies tramps and thieves and target

Do you think Target is run by a bunch of gypsies, tramps and thieves? 

I would NOT say that because gypsies and tramps never cause the volume of trouble that Target has. Associating them with Target would be degrading.

cher was a leader in revealing up to the limit

But we have now learned that Target and thieves do go together. The market for stolen credit cards is huge. This article at KrebsonSecurity was an eye opener about the stolen credit market. The online card shop for thieves is described as “remarkably efficient and customer-friendly”.

The biggest immediate problem for me is the hassle of updating the service providers/ utilities we have linked to our card account. Our bank proactively canceled and re-issued us a card. A scary possibility is future ID theft.

The long term problem is we all get to pay for this because the increase costs in security will be passed on the customers eventually.

Anyone out there who can remember when many stores did not take credit cards might remember that Cher sang about gypsies tramps and thieves. (I know of a great hot dog stand that STILLS only takes cash.) Enjoy a little Cher and Carol Burnett.

10 million a year

If you have been reading this blog for awhile you know the posts are typically not very serious. Today, a friend passed along a story link to me that was interesting and SERIOUS.

It's a story of Identity Thief that took place in San Francisco. here's the link.

The 10 million ? - That's the number given by the FTC of the number of ID victims per year. I had to get new cards issued because of a detected loss of records. My name was on that VA laptop that was taken a year or so ago. It's a big problem. Luckily for me, only the hassle of a new card (updating numbers at place with auto withdrawal) was the most I had to go through.

You remember that commercial - "what do you have in your wallet?" well the message should be about ID theft and why you should take unnecessary things out of your wallet.

There's an informative video about this problem on the FTC site. Check it out - you never know.