Airline employees and correctional officer arrested for credit card fraud

A lot of payment (credit/debit) card fraud is caused by dishonest employees, who skim the information from cards; or might even simply forget to return them to you. And when they "forget" to return them, it might be intentional!

The New York City District Attorney's Office announced:

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the arrest of four JetBlue employees and a New York City Department of Corrections Officer for the unauthorized use of credit cards from Jet Blue customers.

Press release, here.

Pretty scary, that Jet Blue (airline) personnel and a correctional officer, who should be people that can be trusted, seem to have given a black eye to their professions.

I saw this story the day after I had to go back to a Del Taco, who failed to return my card to me. After going to considerable trouble to get my card back (which I should probably cancel), I was amazed that no one apologized to me for what had occurred.

They even charged me for the ice tea, I ordered when returning to get the card.

On a more serious note, businesses should always make sure lost payment devices and identification are properly secured. They should only be maintained for a short period of time, then destroyed to prevent someone compromising (using) them.

Many people would be shocked at how often these lost and found items are maintained (sometimes for years) in not very secure places, such as an unlocked drawer.

At least, the Del Taco manager did make me show ID to get my card back, but she didn't do very much to make me rave about their customer service. A kind, or sympathetic word can do a lot of smooth out an unfortunate situation, like this one!

So far as restaurant employees involved in credit card fraud, a lot has been written about this, recently.

Here is my version of what a lot of people have been writing about:

Why it's become TOO easy for restaurant workers to skim payment cards

Please note, it's probably not fair to single out restaurant workers, this can occur at any business that accepts plastic, or even checks.