Debit and credit cards.

[masterfins]

I got dinged twice, both times on a Chase CC that I rarely used, and never carried with me.  It had literally been months since I used the card, I really only used it a couple times for convenience checks.  They tend to put small transactions through first to see if it works, then they put larger transactions through.  The second time it happened they charged airline tickets across the country (several thousand dollars); this seemed dumb to me as nowadays you have to have ID to fly.  Chase was very good about immediately crediting my account and sending out a new card.

[pondwater]

Westin is also a hotel chain, it could be it was swiped when someone checked in for possible incidentals, then when there were none it was reversed.

It was listed as healthcare or hospital category on the banks info. So who knows. Guess I need to go find my checkbook, I will need groceries and gas. No sure where I put that thing, haha.

[dolphins4life]

Is the new chip thing designed to prevent identity theft?

[CF DolFan]

Yes. It helps to eliminate people from making new fake cards after stealing your numbers. The chip lets the retailer know this is the actual card.

[Spider-Dan]

More specifically, the chip generates a new security code every time the card is used.  Even if a criminal were to clone your card, they would have no way to clone the code, because they don't know the formula the chip uses to generate new codes.

[Dave Gray]

I think this is related:  Do any of you use ApplePay?  How does it work and what are the benefits?