Special Level of Hell Reserved...

... for fraudsters that is. It's right between the pedophile level and the telemarketer level if you were wondering. You get molested but at least they call first, but it's usually during dinner.

In the late '90's I used Interac everywhere (that's debit transactions to the rest of you outside Canada). I used it for those consumer electronics I love so much but I even used it to buy single Kinder eggs that are 99¢.

Since last April my wife has had her card cloned twice. Yes, she's always been reimbursed by her bank and yes they are always understanding. But it's stressful and time consuming to get a new card at the local branch. What scares me is with the speed and efficenty that the banks help their customers when this happens. It's almost as if this kind of thing happens all the time. [Insert sarcasm here]

Fraud like this can't be completely stopped. But it can be reduced. Here are some security features that my bank has not implemented.

VeriSign has come out with the Identity Protection Card. It's a card that will give you an additional number to enter to grantee you have physical possession of the card. This currently works with ebay and PayPal but I would love to see this say embedded on your bank client card. Great for online purchases or online banking.

Interac in rolling out their chip technology across Canada. This will take years as every ATM, and Interac point of sale unit will have to be upgraded. So don't worry about upgrading you current cards right now. You have until 2012 for ATMs and 2015 for point of sale units before your old fashioned magnetic strip card will not work.

There is also the new envelope less deposit technology. This does away with the envelope and the ATM counts your money and scans your checks. No more people entering empty envelopes and then trying to withdrawal. Plus I guess no more holds on your checks you deposit.

Financial institutions need to seriously address this kind of fraud or I'm just going to have to start carrying cash again.

Which is very unlikely since:

1. I'm deathly afraid of getting mugged whilst having said money on my person.
2. I would have to have actual money to carry around on my person.