Technology, Surveillance and Security

My wife met a friend for dinner last night. She had a nice time catching up; until the check came. While trying to settle the bill, my wife realized that her wallet was missing, along with her ID, bank card and a couple of credit cards. Within an hour someone had picked up a nice new TV from a big box electronics retailer. This triggered frantic calls to a number of financial institutions. Sometime during the process of canceling the bank card a few hundred dollars (!) in merchandise was acquired from a drug store (that had to be liquor, right?)

We were glued to two computer screens, refreshing online banking interfaces between scribbling frantic notes about fraud claims. My wife did a valiant job keeping her composure while wondering in the back of head how this all happened. I tried to reassure her as much as I could, but I couldn’t help but be fascinated by all the data at our disposal.  Not only did I know exactly how much was spent, but at what retailers and even specific locations! It was incredible. It was like I was reading the script to Oceans 18 or something. The crooks never even left the neighborhood.

Suddenly, a new image started creeping into my head: Charles Bronson. At a dead sprint I could be at that drug store in 6 minutes (the big box store would have been a waste of time: the trail would be cold and the store was already closed.) Surely there were surveillance cameras. At that time of night there would be a limited number of clerks who could even have rung up the loot. Of course they would remember someone buying a few hundred Snickers or more likely, a few dozen liters of Grey Goose. However, I am no vigilante. I am a mostly mild-mannered project manager. So instead of rushing off to restore my good credit, I made lists and phone calls and checked balance sheets.

As my wife was finishing canceling the last card, I was on the phone with an old college friend who happens to be our financial adviser now. He assured me that he could have money wired to my newly re-secured account today. There would be a fee for the speedy transfer, but we would be covered for our rent and day-care checks. And he was right. In well under 36 hours we were fine (as long as our bank is satisfied that the charges were indeed fraudulent and we get our money back.) In the end this will be nothing more than an inconvenience, no matter how exciting.

I have been going over the facts again and again. The pinpoint accuracy of data regarding damage, location and time; cameras and eye-witnesses; fraud claims and police reports; I keep arriving at the same thing conclusion.

The Crime

If my parents had lost the type of money we lost last night, our family would have been ruined. Our reliance on credit cards allowed so much carnage to happen so quickly, but it is not like our thief pulled a few grand out of an ATM. She would not have the needed PIN, and ATM cards have a daily withdrawal limit of a couple hundred dollars. No, our crook was aided at every step by underpaid, under attentive store clerks. If said clerks had even requested to see ID, our thief could never have complied. When was the last time you thought a clerk carefully compared you to your picture, and the name on your ID to the one on your credit card?

This morning my wife called the police. The representative on the other end was very helpful, friendly and reassuring. But neither of us expect the police to put much time and effort to cracking such a small case; they have much bigger fish to fry. I am sure there is no lack of evidence; manpower is the real issue.

Just this morning my wife’s dinner companion lamented what she saw with her own eyes, and dismissed at the time. Two women sat down at a table right behind my wife, then left so quickly as to leave an odd impression. She even remembers a confused waiter coming up, then asking the hostess if she had seated someone at that table or not.

The Resolution

We will be saved by large banking networks with built-in fraud protection systems. Strange buying behavior triggers software to alert operators who call you as soon as possible. The fraud department at our bank will probably compare electronic signatures and check transaction times to bank phone records, showing that one of the instances happened while my wife was on the phone with a bank representative. Funds, traveling electronically from one bank account to another, via the Fed, will cover us until some claims investigator signs off on our case. A few key strokes later all will return to normal.

Technology did not fail us last night. It empowered us and it will restore us. I can’t help but think that is kind of cool.