PLEASE ARCHIVE THANK YOU
While the story does sound odd, it doesn't really match up with what happens during skimming.
Your typical skimming incident would be that you give your server the card and then they take it off 'somewhere' and swipe the card through a skimming device that records the information on the card. This information would later be written onto a card somewhere else and used to buy something. (This is why sometimes businesses check the card numbers to make sure they match up with what's on the card.) The purchases usually happen a few days later, and usually in a different state. I don't know that RFID skimming is a common reality, I've never really heard about it happening 'in the wild'. It's still so much easier to get credit cards by other means why bother? (For instance people are WAY too eager to just speak them out loud in public.)
So what's not matching up here is 1) the credit card was reported to be in your possession at all times 2) the charge was made at the establishment the server worked, which would mean the chance of the server getting substantial benefit from this theft is pretty slim. It would be much easier to just input the amount of the tip wrong to see if anyone bothers to match up their receipt to the billing statement (99.9% of the time people don't.)
It's never good to hear, but as an independent observer I'd guess that you accidentally gave your card to the server and forgot about it. It's really not that hard to forget small common tasks that are done almost automatically, like forgetting where you put your keys. Can't say for sure that this is the case, but based off the information we have this is the most likely scenario.
Yes, pretty much nothing about this supposed situation is clear except for the fact that skimming is almost certainly not at play (somebody is going to steal your card info and use it to pay another customer's check, which the server then gives to you? Huh?). Which is why the OP's single-minded insistence on discussing skimming seems...odd.
Yeah, the phrase is supposed to be 'crime pays' the scenario outlined is more like 'crime pays it forward'.
If skimming is the wrong word for what happened, that does not mean it didn't happen. This is very alarming, and I don't see the point in arguing over the word.
Square isn't a coupon it's the technology used by many ships and restaurants to take payments via credit and debit card. Take a look at the register - is it iPad or pc based? Take a look at the scanner.
Point being if you paid previously at same place with credit card and they use Square or similar technologies your card information may well be saved in their system
randy57 said:
I paid cash after discovering the initial disputed bill. I do not use any of the coupons such as Square.
peteglider said:
How was the payment made? I have a couple favorite eating/coffeee places that use Square [or something like that] for payments. In that system my info stays on file. Have not had any problems with that, but it was a surprise
Square charges are prefixed SQ* on your account I believe, so should be easy to identify. That said, a) this isn't skimming, (and I believe closer to "crowd hacking" anyway, but I digress) and, b) something about this is just REAL odd and doesn't make any sense.
With Square, it's not that you're in the same business, it's that Square recognizes your card anywhere you use it. The first time you pay through Square, it asks for a text number (or maybe an email address, but I use text), then it sends your receipt to that number for subsequent transactions anywhere.
Again, call your credit card company and ask them.