Post by Pennythe dust...
Post by FlopPost by FredPost by FennyWhilst waiting at the sorting office to pick up a parcel [1], a chap
was asked for a signature for his package. He signed "not my name"
and claimed he wasn't letting anyone have an electronic copy of his
signature. No argument from the RM chap.
Some years ago I read that in Leftpondians never check the signature on card purchases (long before chip'n'dale) so I spent a very happy holiday in the States signing my receipts as, "Not my name", "This isn't me" and "Don't accept this signature".
At one point I asked the cashier about it and he said that the card company paid regardless, so what was the point of checking.
All transactions went through without a hitch.
Fred
Often they would check signatures [1] for paper validation [2] but the
signature on the back of a card is as reliable as the one on a RM
'signed for' machine.
So... the card company paid the retailer and charged the card holder.
This made fraud an open offer. Just steal a card and you are unstoppable.
What many people did was to write 'CID' instead of a signature.
[1] I am informed that signatures should be compared upside down.
Looking at them the correct way up tends to compare words (names).
Upside down compares patterns.
[2] The old hand held printer. Put the card on the platen; cover with
the payslip containing a carbon sheet; roll and print; then get the
receipt signed.
It became very clear to me, after a burglary in which cheque books and
cards from two different accounts were stolen, that neither shops nor banks
were checking account numbers, let alone signatures, properly.
I'd informed the bank of the stolen cheque numbers but the one cheque which
subsequently appeared on my statement had been 'validated' by the card from
the other account. Not only that, but the cheque had been destroyed once it
was logged onto the system so no fingerprints were available from it.
Many years ago, in the days when banks printed your details into a new
cheque book semi-manually, my parents in law were sent a new cheque book
on husbad's and my account, rather than their own[1]. The surnames were
the same, as were the number of initials. The actual initials were
different though, as were the account numbers.
Parents in law didn't notice for a week or two and neither did anyone in
any of the shops they had bought stuff from. When we thought about it,
afterwards we realised that, when checking the cheque details, the shop
assistant never had both the cheque and cheque card right way up at the
same time. While looking at the face of the cheque card, they'd have
the cheque face down, so they could copy the card details onto the back.
They'd then turn both over[3] and compare the signatures which, of
course, matched nicely.
When parents in law realised what had happened, Bankleys didn't cover
themselves with glory. They seemed extremely unconcerned and just told
us to sort it out between ourselves. Fortunately, on one hand, we were
on good terms with one another and, on the other hand, it must have been
at the right end of the month so it hadn't made us overdrawn, so we were
able to do this but none of us were very impressed by their attitude.
[1] We all banked at the same branch of the same bank. We think that
they must have requested their new cheque book at the same time we had
requested one, and the bank failed to notice that they hadn't changed to
a new block[2] between printing the two books.
[2] Or whatever the blocks used for printing were called.
[3] Or vice versa
--
Best wishes, Serena
People are forever calling me a hypochondriac and, let me tell you, that
makes me sick.