identity theft resulting

from simply buying a pizza.

$1,500 in fraudulent credit card charges across two different

states were the result of identity theft committed against

the man while he was living in Ohio. It seems the pizza

clerk made use of a small, handheld device called a

"skimmer" to illegally capture the man's credit card data.

names, account numbers

and other identifying information from the magnetic stripes

located on the back of the card

name, home address, phone number

pay cash

for that pizza

It was bound to happen sooner or later.A Utah man paid the ultimate high price for his recentpizza purchase. That's right -The skimmer pulls the data from your credit card which providesthe identity thief all the information needed to make a counterfeitcard. A skimmer can hold card data from hundreds of differentcredit cards.Identity thieves use them to record theto be downloaded onto a personalcomputer later. That data can then be used to make phony creditcards used to commit fraud against innocent victims.Since hand held card skimmers have been reported to cost as littleas $300, it's no wonder the pizza man found it far more profitableto steal identities than worry about whether pepperoni or sausagewas on your order.Now combine a skimmer equipped identity thief with a customer orderdatabase which includes yourand you have a ready made set of potential victims to commit creditfraud against.No wonder the pizza man is part of a cottage industry of identitythieves who either directly commit credit fraud or illegally sellyour personal information to others to use anywhere else in theworld.It's a big problem which was estimated to cost $1 billion a yearaccordingly to Bankrate.com.So, our tip for today is toordered fromthe call in service. Better yet, avoid using those "convenient"phone in ordered, pizza delivery services altogether as they aretypically staffed by transient labor who are responsible forrecording some of your most confidential personal credit datathat you would typically only trust with a bank.