Retailers urged to help prevent card users from slipping up on card receipts
A survey of 300 credit card users, conducted by Intelligent Finance, has revealed that nearly one in three credit card users simply throw away their credit card receipt slips without first bothering to destroy them.
Receipt uses - from bedding for pets to Pinyatta
The survey revealed that people currently put their credit card receipts to a myriad of uses.
Respondents gave a list of uses they put their credit cards receipts to that included: to wrap up chewing gum; to provide bedding for pet rabbits; making paper aeroplanes to amuse children; to write down their telephone number to give to someone they had just met in a pub; to stuffing a donkey for a game of pinyatta!
By contrast, some respondents — particularly those who had been on the receiving end of credit card fraud — said they went to great lengths to ensure they destroyed their receipts. Responses included taking them into work to shred them to pouring boiling hot water and bleach on them and mashing them up into an unrecognisable pulp before throwing them out.
Retailers urged not to print full card details
Commenting, Grenville Turner, Chief Executive said: "People should exercise caution when it comes to disposing of their credit card receipts. Many retailers still print their full card details on these receipts and they can be manna from heaven to fraudsters if people simply throw them away. Retailers can play their part too. I would urge more retailers to calibrate their card machines to withhold the full details of an individuals’ card number from their receipts."
Credit card crime from the fraudulent possession of an individuals card details - where the card wasn’t present — is rising fast, up 15% to £110m last year, accounting for over a quarter of total credit card crime*.
Many retailers still print credit card holders’ full credit card numbers and their card expiry dates on their receipts. When these details are combined with a legible signature, a fraudster who got his hands on the receipts would potentially have all the information they needed to start spending on the card.
Only two out of five card users keep receipts to check against bills
The survey also revealed that the majority of card users don’t even keep their credit card receipts for long enough to check them against their credit card bills:
A further one in three credit card users destroy their receipts straight away, shredding or ripping them up;
One in five credit card users keep their receipts for long enough to check them against their credit card bills before destroying them, and a further one in five said they simply hoard away their credit card receipts, many in case they need them at a later date for insurance purposes.
Retailers
There is no fixed approach from the leading high street retailers when it comes to the details they reproduce on credit card receipts. Intelligent Finance reviewed the practices of leading retail outlets, finding a significant minority — including leading off-license, pub and restaurant chains - that still publish their customers’ full card details.
Even across major retailers that do suppress some of the card numbers on receipts, there appears to be no consistency as to the numbers they suppress. This leaves open the possibility that fraudsters could piece together all the details they need from just two or three receipts.
