Yes.
Those readers are widely available.
Credit card fraud, however, is just one small part of the problem.
A friend of mine was denied a CFO position because he was serving time in Arizona. He wasn't, but the guy who is incarcerated got himself booked using my friends identity. By the time things were straightened out they gave the job to someone else. Someone less "complicated" and "messy."
What about the kid who turns eighteen and gets denied a credit card because he defaulted on a yacht he purchased in Florida three years prior. Children are 51times more likely to get hit.
Then there's the mom who had her identity stolen (let's call her A). Another woman on crack (B) used her identity, had her baby, and went home. Testing later revealed the substance. The cops and HHS went to A's house to take her children. Thousands of dollars later everything got straightened out, but who wants to have their family taken for "just a few nights" because of an identity theft. Think about that from A's perspective. She and her husband had a baby and went home. A few weeks later the government came to confiscate their children.
Most people can handle credit card fraud which is what you're describing. The banks and credit card companies usually let you off the charge(s) with just a phone call.
It's the medical and criminal id theft that concerns most people.
Make no mistake, most (but not all) problems can get straightened out after spending hours and hours on the phone and thousands of dollars in legal fees.
I'd just rather have the membership that'll straighten everything out without my having to get invlolved in the details.
I can do my own taxes, but I'd rather spend the money on an accountant who knows what she's doing.
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