Restaurants 'not protecting' credit card users
Food and drink
12th December 2008
As many as one in four restaurants and bars fail to offer adequate protection to credit card holders, a new study has found.
CPP suggested that unsafe practices at eating and drinking establishments are contributing to a 19 per cent rise in cardholder-not-present and counterfeit fraud.
It discovered that staff at 38 per cent of these businesses often leave credit cards within reach of other customers, while 46 per cent place them in areas easily accessible to members of staff.
Furthermore, workers at 71 per cent of bars and restaurants will take cards out of sight of the customer when sorting out payments.
CPP card fraud specialist Danny Harrison warned consumers to be on their guard.
"Remember, it only takes seconds for fraudsters to clone or skim a card, or even to write down your card numbers," he said.
The findings are more bad news for the restaurant industry, following Luke Johnson's claims in the Financial Times this week that the sector is set to go through a difficult period.
