Fraud protection called to testify: John Roberts’ credit info stolen

If you’re on the fence about the merits of fraud protection, just trust me: if it can happen to a Supreme Court Justice, it can happen to you.

At the very least, credit card fraud is more than a nuisance. It’s a major crime, and while the immediate effects may be a block to cash flow, it can strongly impact the way a cardholder is perceived, especially when that person has a reputation to uphold. As with other types of identity crime, many may assume the “sheer number” defense – the idea that there are so many targets out there that no hackers would waste their time on them. But if you’ve got a credit card, you’ve got something to lose. There’s no bounds to who can be hit by such an attack, whether it‘s a barista serving coffee or the member of the U.S. government on the other side of the counter.

According to numerous sources (primarily the Washington Post), Chief Justice John Roberts has been using cash in several D. C. transactions recently, including a Starbucks, telling employees there that he’s canceled his credit cards after someone scooped his numbers. Though this story has shown up in various publications, precious little information has been confirmed. Regardless, the card was indeed compromised, adding Roberts to a long, long list of high-profile names sought out by criminals.

Is there any doubt at this point of the necessities of fraud protection? With so many opportunities for card information to be obtained, it remains a vital part of the modern world to keep your data locked tight. In a situation like this, you want to be the one on the right side of the courtroom when the judge drops the gavel – not under it.

John Sileo is a fraud protection expert and keynote speaker on fraud, reputation and online privacy. His clients included the Department of Defense, Pfizer, and Homeland Security. See his recent media appearances on 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper and Fox Business.

Posted by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo in Fraud Detection & Prevention and tagged Fraud Protection, online privacy.