Wait, What?

I complained yesterday about a small charge to my debit card which I did not make. I am glad at this point that I'm going through the process of getting a new card. And it does have me thinking about how easy fraud can be even in this age of safety feature over safety feature.

What I'm leading to is, why aren't safety features always employed? Twice in the last month I've used that now cancelled debit card without being instructed to enter my PIN or zip code, two common manners of making sure the user is the owner of the card. Once was at a Sheetz gas station in Ohio. I was using said debit for gas, and after tapping the thing against a monitor (a standard option nowadays, but one I'll never really get accustomed to) was told to fill up without either safeguard having been requested. We're not talking about an old gas pump at an old gas station in the middle of nowhere. This was a brand new Sheetz (a largish Midwestern/Midatlantic brand) which should have had those features. My question is, why not?

It makes a fella skittish about technology and the safety of his money. In my particular case, I can't help but wonder if that may have been how my card information was, ah, acquired. I didn't think so at the time. But now, well, I may avoid Sheetz until I know things have changed. Or at least stay away from that one. That's too bad for them, because they're nice places on the whole with great services beyond gas: fresh food and such.

We'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'll be much more protective of my plastic cash.