Not entirely related to your discussion here, but since you are wondering
about how the numbers were thieved, there was a recent case, about 2 weeks
ago, here in Anchorage, Alaska, where about 1000 credit card numbers were
stolen from a point of service device (you know, where you swipe the card
and put in your pin)..they got the card numbers and the pins. Someone
somehow hacked into the software, or did something to the hardware, so that
when the info was sent to Mastercard, Visa, etc, it was also sent to the
criminal; and the business owner had no idea this was occurring until credit
card companies caught on to fraudulent purchases and the breach was traced
back to the particlar point of service device. I have understood that one
way to combat such crime is to use credit instead of debit at
debitcard-ready devices.

Not sure if this helps anyone, but....

-Max

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 9:17 AM, Adrian Myers <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> During the meeting I was at the Amelia Plantation business center, about to
> use my credit card to pay for services, when the staff member behind the
> counter advised me to NOT to use my credit card because "anybody might see
> the receipt laying around". At the time I thought she was referring to
> other
> guests, or hypothetical trespassing thieves. Given what appear to be these
> in-house credit card number thefts, in retrospect, I wonder if the staff
> member knew (or had hear rumors maybe) about other staff members stealing
> card numbers? Again in retrospect, does it not seem quite strange for a
> hotel staff member to advise a customer* to not use their credit card *due
> to security fears?!  (Incidentally, my card, which I used at the front
> desk,
> has not been used illicitly.)
>
> I wonder if it would be appropriate for the SHA to contact the hotel
> management, the Better Business Bureau, or take some other steps? After all
> we spent tens (hundreds?) of thousands of dollars at their resort...
>
> Cheers,
>
> Adrian Myers
>
> ______________________________
>
> Adrian T. Myers
> PhD Student, Stanford Archaeology Center & Department of Anthropology,
> Stanford University
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Adrian Myers
> Stanford Archaeology Center
> P.O. Box 20446
> Stanford, CA 94309
> USA
>
>
> Sent from San Jose, California, United States
>
> On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 6:51 AM, Christopher Fennell
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
> > My credit card number was stolen from Amelia Island Hotel as well. The
> > only place I provided that number was at the Amelia Island Hotel's
> > main reception desk, so anyone providing their card there may be
> > vulnerable. The thieves waited a couple of days before using it, and my
> > credit card company says they likely created a counterfeit version
> > because the number is being physically swiped through readers.
> >
>