Stolen Identity

Some years ago one of our salesmen was entertaining clients at lunch in a nearby restaurant. He would be using his personal credit card to pay the bill. When the bill arrived he sent his credit card backstage and when it arrived back he stuffed it in his wallet, gave his signature and was pre-occupied with parting handshakes, etc.  The cashier must have been deluged with all the plastic as the card returned to him was not his and this "error" was not noticed for several days. Meanwhile, my man's card went around town purchasing food & drink and other goodies. Back then both AMEX and VISA used those tear out receipts with carbon paper inserts that replicated your signature and would give a possessor access to practice your "Palmer Method". When we finally were extricated from the "mixup" we no longer patronized that establishment.
In a more modern era one of my colleagues - call him Tom Jones -  embarked on a lengthy business trip outside the country. Upon his return thru Miami International Airport he was advised that there was a warrant out for his arrest. Someone posing as Tom Jones was cutting a swath thru Florida towns purchasing appliances and various high priced items and was staying one town ahead of the authorities.
The real TJ being out of the country was not able to receive the verification calls but fortunately his passport reflected him being in a foreign country on the days the illegal purchases were made. So they let him go home but cautioned him not to go near a police station until the issue was cleared up else he would be apprehended on sight.
The moral is be wary - be alert - be vigilant - there are bad people out there. Last week (7/19) Huffington Post Tech Section did an article on password protection in the digital era. It was worth reading.
tjs
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