My local Sears store may get sued one of these days because it is still printing the full credit card numbers on their sales receipts.
According to the U.S. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, which went into effect on December 4, 2006, the retailers are not allowed to print their customers' full credit card numbers on the sale receipts in an effort to prevent consumer fraud and identity theft.
Some claim card expiration dates should also not be printed but the law is not clear on that point.
Big merchants such as Rite-Aid, Wendy's, FedEx, TJX, and Ikea are already being sued for doing exactly that.
100 class-action lawsuits are already filed at the federal courts and district courts (in California, Pennsylvania, and Kansas) for continuing to print full credit card numbers on sales receipts.
The lawsuits contend that the retailers are "wilfully" violating the law, which carry a $1,000 penalty per transaction (not per person). So, if a consumer has bought 10 sandwiches from a store with 10 different receipts displaying the full credit card number, the penalty sought would be $10,000.
To prevent the onslaught of these new lawsuits, VISA started to demand its vendors back in 2003 to accept new machines that print only the last four digits of a credit card number. That still remains the legally accepted practice but I personally see quite a few stores still printing their sales receipts the old fashioned way.
I guess it's time to have a friendly talk with the Manager of my Sears store...
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3 comments:
Yes, but whom do you contact (I'm in NJ)when a violation occurs? I have numerous receipts at my house with the full # on them that I've saved purposely, but I can't find out who to notify that the business is breaking the law?
Garagerock, I'm not sure since I don't live in NJ but I'd think you could notify the respective Consumer Protection Agencies of your state.
Here are two sources:
http://www.state.nj.us/oag/ca/home.htm
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/ocp.htm
Last month we went to a Thai restaurant and I paid with credit card. The Merchant Copy had asterisks for the numbers except the last four. That's how it should be. But my copy had all numbers printed out in the open.
When I brought that to the manager's attention, she said our state (Maryland) required only the Merchant's Copy to hide the numbers. Go figure! To some extent it makes sense because what's the point in hiding my own credit card number from me?
But those receipts can always be lost, dropped, etc. and found by someone else.
So that's why I think even the Customer Copy should hide those numbers (except last four).
I realize I am probably way late on this but I am currently taking business law classes. From what I see, you can also contact the Federal Trade Commission. The web site is http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ . Hope this may help someone.
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