FACTA Act Helps Reduce Risk of Identity Theft by Receipt

A law passed by the U.S. Congress under President George Bush in 2003 continues to protect consumers from identity thieves that would still seek to obtain valuable information through printed means.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act—also known as the FACTA act—disallows merchants from issuing receipts to consumers that have full debit or credit card account numbers printed on them.

Specifically, the FACTA act stipulates that only the last five digits of the account number can be printed on a receipt and in a specific order. Account numbers other than the very last five must be omitted or replaced with placeholder keyboard symbols such as stars or hashtags.

Additionally, the FACTA act prohibits receipt references to any expiration date of the debit or credit card used to purchase goods, services, or meals. While admittedly in today’s world, cyber thieves are more common, the spirit of this law was to make it more difficult for the dishonestly-inclined to identify account numbers through a process of elimination.

Don’t We All Lose Receipts?

Who hasn’t found themselves missing a receipt needed to return or exchange or even write-off an item (for tax purposes)? Stray receipts can be a source of valuable information if they had either full account numbers on them or just the last five digits and a valid expiration date.

Armed with a receipt that is non-compliant with the FACTA act and having access to certain technology and know-how, a criminal could theoretically figure out the debit or credit card account number and use it fraudulently.

For the first three years after the 2003 passage of the FACTA act, merchants using cash registers made prior to Jan. 1, 2005 were not held to these stipulations. If a cash register was made after this date, merchants had only one year to implement the requirements of the FACTA act.

Certain exceptions to the rules still exist today but are become rare. The first exception is with a handwritten receipt. You will typically find these in use only in sole proprietorship businesses such as craft vendors where the sales volume is very low.

The second exception is when a credit card imprinting machine is used because there is no other alternative. With the advent of smart phones and alternate methods of paying individuals and small businesses such as Square or the Venmo application, imprinting devices are rarely seen any more.

Other FACTA Act Protections and Elements

If an individual is notified of a data breach of vital customer data by an online vendor that they use, the law allows him or her to set up what is known as a fraud alert with one of the three nationwide credit reporting bureaus—Experian, TransUnion or Equifax.

A warning is clearing placed on the person’s record for three months and can be drawn out for up to seven years.

Additionally, the FACTA act allows for active duty military service people to notify one of three credit bureaus in the same fashion if they are due to deport. This protects military personnel from an identity thief that would use their information to apply for additional credit and make fraudulent purchases while they are serving the country.

Statutory damages for failing to meet the receipt regulations established by the FACTA act can run from $100 to $1000 per violation. If you know of a merchant that regularly fails to adhere to this vital law, you may have a legal claim.

Free FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you made one or more purchases and the retailer provided you with a receipt that contained more than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number or the expiration date, you may be eligible for a free class action lawsuit investigation and to pursue compensation for these FACTA violations.

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