Did you know that if a criminal gets your credit card number, they can show their "generosity" by donating money to charity using your credit card? Why are criminals doing this? This is happening because the charities will let the criminal know if the card is verified and still active. More importantly, it's a great way for criminals to test if the card will be reported stolen, according to a story Clark read in Newsday. Criminals can then sell your verified card number for three times the value of an unverified card! If someone steals an unverified number, it's worth $6; if it is verified, it sells for $18. The Red Cross has reported 700 fraudulent donations using stolen cards last month alone! Therefore, if you see a small unauthorized charity donation on your bill, be alert. Clark says the solution to this problem is so easy. The credit card companies should do what is done in Europe by inserting a smart chip in the card which requires a secret code. So even if someone steals your card, if they don’t know your code the card can’t be used. The result in Europe is that credit card fraud is nowhere near the problem it is in the United States. So why are we still using '60s technology to print out credit cards here? It seems like the banks would rather deal with the fraud that occurs and then clean up the mess after the fact, rather than spend the money proactively to get things done right in the first place.