POS Warning

In an article “Why Data Theft Experts Recommend Paying in Cash”, by Byron Acohido, published in USA Today the experts talk about the dangers of debit card theft. They also bring up the growing problem of POS terminal attacks. What they don’t talk about is how the public is going to respond to the exposure.

If you are a business owner or the manager of a store in a chain, you now have a duty to your company and customers to look at those terminals every day. The thieves are slick at what they do so you will need to be more vigilant in watching for tampering. If you suspect tampering, take that terminal off line and have it checked out. The first time it comes to light that a POS terminal was used, after being suspected, there might be a very ugly outcry from customers. There may even be action from attorneys against the store and or company.

For those companies and managers who don’t feel the need to be watchful and claim ignorance there will be an attorney who will clearly address the lack of due diligence. Business owners and leaders need to understand that these attacks are becoming more common the need for greater effort on their part is required.

The last part of the article brought up the age old advice that maybe people should carry and use cash. When people carried cash they were subjected to the threat of robbery. Now they need to be concerned about using a debit card. I stand by my position that consumers need to use credit cards for all transactions because of the higher legal safe guards of credit cards. I still believe that you should carry an ATM (only)card only for getting cash when you need it. The debit card is a direct pipe line into your bank account and can cause significant problems if it is lost or cloned. The risk versus reward for using a debit card is not good enough for me.