Check your printed CC receipts

[rcjordan]

After a bad experience with an emailed CC receipt after a hotel checkout, I've always opted for a paper receipt. But with all the lack-of-security concerns floating about, I started checking receipts from restaurants, convenience stores, grocery chains, etc to see what they divulged.

Some, but not all, receipts list the last 4 digits of your CC account #. The 1st four are for the card vendor (Visa, MCard, ...). So, the 16-digit number really just 8.  If you've ever watched a password cracker perform, 8 digits ain't all that secure. 

[ergophobe]

But try to check those receipts with gloves on

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36976811/

I heard an interview with a scientist researching endocrine disruptors who said that the big surprise of her research was that receipts were a bigger source of exposure than drinking from bottles with BPA plastics. Before that I thought it was a hippy conspiracy theory. Now I try to limit my handling of paper receipts


Minnnesota pollution control agency has an excellent page on "receipt safety" and recycling guidelines: do NOT recycle those toxic things - they are practically hazmat

Studies have found that individual thermal receipts can contain BPA that is 250 to 1,000 times greater than the amount in a can of food