Italian police: Never lose sight of your credit cards

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Italian police: Never lose sight of your credit cards
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, March 23, 2008

NAPLES, Italy — Here’s a safety tip from an Italian law enforcement official about using a credit card for in-person purchases: Never let it out of your sight.

Whether making a purchase at a store or using it to pay for a restaurant meal, keep an eye on who handles the plastic, even to the point of following your server if the card can’t be scanned at the table, said Angelo Mazzagatti, an officer and investigator with the carabinieri arm of the Defense Ministry office in Naples.

On Friday, investigators with the carabinieri, Italy’s military police, broke up a credit-card counterfeiting ring. They arrested two suspects in downtown Naples who were suspected of fabricating false credit cards and identification cards.

Although all of the 70 confiscated fake credit and ID cards bore names of Italian citizens, that doesn’t mean foreigners living, working or visiting Italy shouldn’t take heed, Mazzagatti said.

“Be very careful to whom you give your credit card,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53539