The Electronic Pickpocket

I do most of my banking, pay bills and shop over the Internet like millions of people do.  It was only two years ago that I quit going to the post office to buy money orders, pay a bill in person or write a check.  Online banking though a boon for most is still fraught with danger if caution is not exercised when conducting business.  We hear plenty of horror stories of people whose identity has been stolen, but what I don’t hear enough of is these people being arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated with no internet access at all for life.

It is more than a bit difficult to trace and track down people who steal other people’s money and identity.  Usually, these thieves live in another country that doesn’t really have the resources or the will to combat online thieves.  The latest threat to our financial wellbeing is the ability of people to steal information by scanning a person’s wallet from a few feet away.   The remedy for that is to have a metal wallet that the scanner cannot penetrate.  I thought I would have to spend a lot of money and order it on line, but they sell them at HEB for 10 bucks. Am I paranoid? You bet I am when it comes to my money.

http://godirect.org/

A bit of interesting information I learned this week from my friend (who receives VA disability) is that the Federal Government will stop printing checks in 2013 for the millions of people who receive any kind of government payments.  She has no bank account and is not taking kindly to this major change in her life.  She cannot afford all the banking fees on her limited income. The government says federal check recipients have two options: 1. Direct deposit to a checking or savings account or 2. get a debit card. I explained to her that if she gets the debit card there are not as many fees as if she had a checking account. 



graphic by Mary Beetle Carroll 2011



Personally, I think it is a good way for the government to save money on printing and mailing those millions of checks.  It is also a good way to possibly stop the flow of drug money. But knowing how crafty drug dealers are, how soon will it be until the local drug dealer has a card reader?

The only problem I have is that now the government can also track a person’s spending habits much more easily.  I think the government is trying to do away with a cash economy. It is a way for the government to document a person’s every expenditure if a debit card is used.  I wonder how soon it will be a crime to use cash for purchases.  It seems like the “mark of the beast” (as foretold in the Bible) is appearing before our very eyes in the form of microchips.

 How soon until it is mandatory for all people to have one implanted?  How soon until we get a letter in the mail from the government telling us we will have to be chipped if we want to do any kind of financial transaction ? Will it start in 2013?   According to some people http://www.av1611.org/666/biochip.html it is on its way.