Tech Thieves

An interesting article on various new methods of high-tech shoplifting:

Another vexing new problem, retail executives say, is gift-card fraud. Many retailers now issue gift cards in place of paper gift certificates and receipts from returned merchandise. The cards, which resemble credit cards, have been a boon to the retail industry, accounting for $60 billion in sales last year, almost one-third of it during the holiday season.

But they've also been a boon to thieves. In one scam, crooks copy numbers from gift cards hanging on store racks. After the cards are purchased and activated, buyers use them to shop online by entering the card numbers.

So do the thieves. To figure out which cards have been activated, they phone an 800 number to check on balances for card numbers they've copied. When they discover activated cards, they use the card numbers to buy merchandise on a store's Web site

Bastards. That just complicated my Christmas shopping considerably.