In one of the conversations I had with a Visa representative when my credit card number was stolen last summer, I was told that it was possible that the thieves just randomly generated my number. They generate a whole bunch and then try them on tiny items (like a $1 song from iTunes). The numbers that work are then used for bigger purchases.

I know that's not what happened in my case because they also had my old address, where I received a thank-you-letter for opening an account with some gambling service in the UK a few weeks later. But they did make a $1 iTunes purchase before proceeding to a $50 purchase at a computer store in Luxembourg and then a $500 at a gambling service.

CIBC Visa was spectacular in dealing with it. The first purchase in a foreign country after the $1 iTunes triggered their alarm system and they immediately called me to see whether I was in Luxembourg or buying things there, which of course I wasn't. The gambling money never made it though authorization, and the other charges were reversed very quickly.

My new credit card has a chip on it, and I read recently that we are just about to get debit cards with chips. Now if all business can move on to the chip-based authorization, things will improve a great deal!