What personal information does a vendor who takes your CC info have access to?
Doc
give them access to info like your date of birth?
Al
> If someone takes your credit/debit card info, does that potentially
> give them access to info like your date of birth?
How would they know anything other than your CC number and name? Some
stores are not even asking for a signature any more.
Gordon Burditt
>> give them access to info like your date of birth?
Yes, if they also ask for your driver's license, which is not uncommon.
Credit card verification systems are set up to *verify* things like
your address, so they don't get your address, but if the vendor
guesses it (or asks the cardholder for it), he can be told whether
it's wrong. (Typically it's mail-order companies like Amazon that
would verify whether the shipping address matches the card address).
The first digits of your card number (4, typically) give the name
of your bank (typically at a national level, so they might know
"Bank of America" but they wouldn't know which branch, from which
they might guess your approximate address).
>How would they know anything other than your CC number and name? Some
>stores are not even asking for a signature any more.
Some banks have really lousy online security, and if the store (or
store clerk) is also willing to act like a thief and pretend to be
the cardholder, they might manage to get additional information.
(The real cardholder may be alerted of funny business going on
also.) Usually, they'd have to know something else, like the mother's
maiden name or the last 4 digits of the SSN to set up an online
account, or to invoke the "lost password" function. Once into
online banking, sometimes the "edit your personal info" section
reveals too much. A lot of this info would already be available
to a thief who stole your whole wallet. Your driver's license
probably has your DOB and address on it, and it's not uncommon for
store clerks to ask for that.
If a bank requires the date of birth to invoke the "lost password"
function, a few idiot banks might allow an unlimited number of
tries, *and* tell you if it's wrong, so you can keep guessing until
you get it right.
Overall, I think the biggest practical risk from a person to whom
you give your CC info is that they'll over- or double-charge your
card or spit in your food.