Credit and Debit Cards Could Be Compromised by Info on Receipts

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) was passed in 2003 in an effort to protect consumers from identity theft. Changing technology has made many transactions easier, but it has also made it easier for thieves to steal personal information and identities. The law attempts to protect consumers from identity theft as technology changes.

A large part of this protection comes from controlling what information about credit and debit cards is printed on a receipt. FACTA requires merchants to display no more than the last five digits of credit and debit card numbers on customer copies of receipts, according to the FTC.

If you received a customer copy of a receipt that included any numbers other than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number, the merchant may have violated FACTA and you could be entitled to compensation.

Even if a receipt includes less than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number, if a merchant includes digits that are not the last five, the receipt may be a FACTA violation. 

This regulation only applies to consumer copies of receipts (not merchant copies) given at the point of sale. It does not apply to handwritten receipts or physical imprints made of credit and debit cards.

Customers may have the right to file a lawsuit against a merchant that they believe violated FACTA and unlawfully exposed their credit or debit card number. Under the provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, consumers can seek statutory damages for each FACTA violation committed by a merchant.

Protecting Against Identity Theft

FACTA places so much importance on protecting the information on consumers’ credit and debit cards because point-of-purchase payment information is one of the most common ways that identity theft occurs. If a thief is able to find a credit or debit card number, they may able to make fraudulent purchases, commit identity theft, and damage a person’s credit score.

The damage done by identity theft goes beyond the money a person can lose in a fraudulent purchase. Having their credit negatively impacted can have long-term effects on a person’s financial health, and identity theft can leave them vulnerable to more personal information theft later on.

Reports show that people who are the victims of identity theft spend an average of one to two months attempting to repair the damage, and some spend up to a year or more repairing the damage–a process that can involve changing account numbers, getting new credit and debit cards, reporting fraudulent purchases, and creating new passwords.

Understanding Truncation

Truncation refers to FACTA’s requirement for merchants to shorten or reduce the personal account information that is printed on debit card or credit card receipts, according to Investopedia. The FACTA law of 2003 had a significant focus on preventing identity theft, believing that criminals could pick up credit card or debit card receipts with too much personally identifying information listed on them.

For this reason, legislators began requiring companies to limit what’s printed on a receipt. If a receipt with the full card info were dropped or fished out of a trash can, an identity thief might have enough to go on to create a fake card and run up bills in the card owner’s name.

Including a full 16-digit personal account number, in addition to the expiration date on a receipt, could enable a fraudulent person to gather all of the necessary information to make a fake credit card. The use of truncation makes it much more difficult for criminals to get this information. Truncation only applies to a receipt that has been generated electronically and does not apply to handwritten receipts or those made from mechanical imprints of the card.

Additionally, it is important for consumers to realize that truncation only applies to those receipts that are given to a customer at the point of sale rather than the transaction records the merchant might keep on their own. Merchants usually have two receipts, one of which includes full credit card details in the event of a refund or a chargeback. Merchants must keep this credit card data safe.

You May Have a Legal Claim

If you’re a shopper who received a customer copy of a receipt that displayed more than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number, you may have a legal claim.

Free Store Receipt Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you have received a receipt with either type of violation in Florida, Georgia or Alabama you may be eligible to join a free FACTA debit/credit card receipt class action lawsuit investigation against merchants who don’t take appropriate measures to protect your financial information.

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