Monty by Jim Meddick for January 19, 2016

Monty leaves the big crime to the police.

So instead of appreciating that Monty was looking out for his property, Timmy calls the law on him. Point to remember about Timmy. Check.

As I warned yesterday, Monty, you are going down! Timmy has apparently decided to press charges. No Charles Bronsons in this comic strip!

It’s like how the police are only unafraid of unarmed criminals.

Eric Salinas, YOU do their job for a day. Then come back and let us know how brave you are each and every time you have to interact with a person suspected of a crime…

Monty, short-sighted vigilante..And it looks like he’s about to be short-cited.

Checking for your id or signature on a credit card only helps if the thief is using your actual card. The problem with the magnetic strip style cards is that in most fraud today, the thieves take your card number and make themselves a new card with your number and some other name on it (which matches an ID they have), and their signature. Thus, putting a lot of emphasis on checking IDs or signatures would not help a lot. Instead the new cards have chips in them, and soon won’t have the magnetic strip at all. The thieves can’t make a new card with a chip, so they will have to take and use your actual card. Once we get there, checking IDs and matching signatures will make a lot more sense.

Note that Mastercard and Visa prohibit merchants from requiring ID. They also prohibit the merchant from accepting a card that is not signed (if he does, the merchant won’t get paid if it turns out to be a fraudulent use; but as long as it is signed and the signature bears a resemblance to the signature from the customer, the bank takes the loss).

Also note that in no case does the the cardholder pay. The cost to the cardholder of a merchant accepting her card from someone other than her is just the hassle.