Waiter Tipped Himself Across the Country

My wife and I, who live in Atlanta, were visiting relatives in Connecticut (our home state) for the Thanksgiving holiday. We went to dinner with my brother at a very nice local restaurant and enjoyed the get-together, reminiscing about good times and preparing for the upcoming holidays.

The weather that evening and all that weekend was much colder than normal. My wife likes to joke that our blood has thinned out ever since we moved south years ago. In fact, when it came time to pay the bill, we explained and complained about the climate differences to our waiter who, being very cordial, humored us along.

While waiting for our check and credit card to be returned, we chatted with my brother, and lost track of the time. Then we realized when he eventually came back, it had taken longer than usual for the transaction to be completed.

We went on to enjoy the rest of the weekend with my wife’s family, and also visited some friends to get in the holiday spirit.

A few weeks later when our American Express bill arrived, we noted that there were several strange charges – charges for gasoline transactions in cities from Reno and northern California down to Arizona over a period of a week or so. We immediately notified our credit card company of the problem and eventually, with the help of their security people, pieced together the puzzle. We recalled the long delay at the restaurant in November. Apparently, this waiter was able to make or copy the magnetic strip and send it to an accomplice out West. They probably worked in tandem, with the West Coast operative returning the “favor” to his friend in Connecticut. Since my brother frequented the restaurant quite often, he had the name of the waiter and we gave it to AMEX.

Looking back at the situation, we believe that the waiter realized that we were from out-of-town and that he could pull off his crime spree with his friend since we would have never returned to that restaurant soon, if ever again.

Moral of the story: keep an eye on your card and make sure it is returned promptly. Plus, always carefully scan your credit card bill for false charges so that you can contest them. The credit card companies will be understanding and will welcome your reporting. You, in turn, will become a crime buster and hold on to your identity.

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