The last time a credit card of mine was compromised it really did not bother me. I am all too familiar with the drill. Go online and disable it. Decline charges and all the other parts. At that point call the provider’s 800 number and press 6 for lost or stolen and deal with it. A few minutes later you are clear. Your new card will be sent in the mail, and the credits will appear in 48 hours.
Am I really bothered. Not really. I always remind myself at one time the first person had their identity stolen many years ago. That poor chump is still fighting the beast. Today, the identity illuminati have it down to a science. Your identity can be stolen on Monday, and you are whole by Friday. However, all is not idyllic yet. A perfect example. I am on the phone chatting with the credit card rep and as we are processing each step, she giggles and says, those pesky critters are always one step ahead of us. That is the problem. We are not battling one enemy. We are battling thousands of enemies, even rogue governments worldwide who are out for us, our clients and even our grandparents.
For a long time, I truly think they were winning the battle, and we were losing the war. However, it has become obvious in recent times that the good guys are starting to fight back. Among the many safeguards we have been gifted with, such as two-factor authentication. The ability to freeze all three credit reporting agencies at will. And now we have a new visitor in town. The Big Kahuna. Also known as Google, who dropped the Daisy Cutter on the enemy with their new video validation protocols. For those not aware. To be recognized by Google now you must provide video proof that you exist and that your business is legitimate and located where you claim. Now let’s agree on something. This issue is not unique to our industry only. The crooks are after everyone from businesspeople to consumers. However, we have some unique exposures that require specialized forms of protection.
I thought of this solution while watching the History channel series “Battle for Baghdad”. Although I remember watching it years back in real time it always fascinated me with the different techniques and tools our military had including “misinformation” being one of my favorites. One tool was the Iraq playing cards. Turns out our soldiers love to play cards so the government issues decks of cards with the key people targets we are after to familiarize them with the image and name. Upon further study it turns out in previous wars including Vietnam, our military issued playing cards with picture and names of specific military hardware so the armed forces can learn and study what they are up against.
It was this enigma that clicked in my brain and allowed me to formulate a solution to the constant scammers and con artists consistently tearing down the financial backbone of our industry. I couldn’t get the playing cards concept out of my mind. It was so simple to a fault. There is always a simple way to accomplish something difficult if you put enough thought into it.
Then it came to me. Baseball Cards. They are just as easy to produce as business cards. The magic ingredient you ask. The front of the card must contain the providers name, primary city and the picture of their facility which must match yet not identically copy Google Street view; therefore, it passes Google video muster. This automatically legitimizes the operator when compared to a backup computer search. The rear of the card. Fleet makeup and basic information critical to the recipient for future affiliation. These cards are not designed for consumers.
If you are small service and operate from home. Get over it. You will always be the majority. Overseas operators. This can be a quagmire. However, you can be part of the problem.
Of all the solutions. I really believe this is Topps.
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