I struggle to understand the security rationale behind that advice - what is more likely - Thief spends 60-90 seconds practicing the signature on the card, or Thief acquires government ID that matches name on the card.
Regardless - any time I'm making a large purchase (even with a signed card), you can be certain they scrutinize my government ID - I've never seen a retailer who has ever paid attention to the rules that stipulate you cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance.
If it were a meaningful amount of money, it's more likely the criminal would clone the card onto one with their own name on it.
It's purely a branding rationale. For some people, being "grilled like a potential criminal" by a checker would be enough for them to stop using the card or not shop at that store. Either way, it's a negative association between that merchant and that card for that kind of customer. Card networks have fantastic anti-fraud algorithms that are way more reliable than a bored teen checker.
Whenever a checker takes care to examine my credit card I make a point of thanking them for their diligence, as long as its within reason they're doing everyone a favor but the criminals.
I worked retail thru high school and college. Although some people were thankful I'd checked their ID, the majority were annoyed. N=1 and all that, but I imagine this was well-studied by the credit card companies - they're not in the business of losing money.
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I struggle to understand the security rationale behind that advice - what is more likely - Thief spends 60-90 seconds practicing the signature on the card, or Thief acquires government ID that matches name on the card.
Regardless - any time I'm making a large purchase (even with a signed card), you can be certain they scrutinize my government ID - I've never seen a retailer who has ever paid attention to the rules that stipulate you cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance.
If it were a meaningful amount of money, it's more likely the criminal would clone the card onto one with their own name on it.
It's purely a branding rationale. For some people, being "grilled like a potential criminal" by a checker would be enough for them to stop using the card or not shop at that store. Either way, it's a negative association between that merchant and that card for that kind of customer. Card networks have fantastic anti-fraud algorithms that are way more reliable than a bored teen checker.
Are many people like that?
Whenever a checker takes care to examine my credit card I make a point of thanking them for their diligence, as long as its within reason they're doing everyone a favor but the criminals.
I worked retail thru high school and college. Although some people were thankful I'd checked their ID, the majority were annoyed. N=1 and all that, but I imagine this was well-studied by the credit card companies - they're not in the business of losing money.