The chips in credit and debit cards were supposed to greatly reduce ID theft -- and they do, but only if you shop at a brick and mortar store. ID fraud is actually at a record high -- because of online shopping.
Lane Conner with Dallas credit card processor Fuzse says the chip only helps in person.
"The chip cards did give a false sense of security to a lot of people, including merchants. The chip does not give any kind of protection on a 'card not present' transaction -- buying online."
Conner says the other problem is with retailers who still have the old card swiping machines.
"While duplicating a chip card is incredibly difficult, if I was to steal your wallet and take it to a retailer that didn't have the ability to take chip and pin, I could sign for a transaction just like if I was swiping a card."
Conner says don't let anyone write down your card number; thieves steal that information from the trash.
But Conner says when computers go down, retailers improvise.
"They were writing everybody's numbers down on a piece of paper, waiting for the computers to come back up. If a bad guy came in that day he could root through the trash and get everyone's card numbers."
Conner says some mom and pop businesses still use the old carbon copy machines -- and that's just asking for trouble.