At 05:20 PM 8/2/2008, you wrote:
>I was in Thailand a few months ago and I had no problem using an ATM card
>and paying cash for everything :-)
>
>DougM

I rarely use a credit card in Asia except for (midrange and better) hotels
and air tickets. For most other things, cash is expected. An ATM card is
the way to go, IMHO, with credit cards as backup. I suggest cards with enou=
gh
credit limit to pay for a ticket back home plus another $10K or so, just
in case you need to pre-pay medical expenses or =

something like that. And several
times the estimated costs of your trip in ATM-accessible accounts. It's
a bit better to have a couple of cards of different types (eg. Visa nad
Mastercard). I carry them in at least two places on my person, so if one
is stolen, I would simply report it immediately and that's the end of my
responsibility (and the end of my credit, so a backup would come into play).
I keep a copy of all the important numbers (cards, passport # and photocopy
of first page, e-ticket, phone list) both in a secure place and on a server
in an encrypted file. If you consider worst case scenarios (say you have a
medical crisis such as appendicitis or are beaten, robbed and left for dead,
naked, in a ditch, in a city 4 hours by air from anyone you know) it still
should still be possible to recover in a reasonable way.

That said, Asia is not known for violent crime, and robbery by stealth is
the far more likely form of loss. When I take crowded metropolitan transit
with a knapsack in China, at least half the time some zippers will be undone
when I get off. Aside from the usual pickpockets (one attempt was successful
due to accomplices creating a crush), once a guy even tried to unzip the pa=
ck
as I was walking down the street. Naturally, risks will be exponentially
higher if you are the type to put yourself into situations where you are
vulnerable (say drunk, alone and in the company of criminals eg. transvesti=
te
hookers or whatever). OTOH, there are cases of credit card slips being alte=
red
and so on, so be a bit careful with how things are filled out and if anyone=
 is
using the old paper forms, careful about which copies stay with the vendor.
In some cases, especially if your signature is on =

the forms, the loss will *not*
be covered. ATM cards require a PIN in addition to the card, so they are mo=
re
secure (though there are scenarios where fraud or extortion could occur, it=
's
less likely).




>-----Original Message-----
>From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of
>Tom=E1s =D3 h=C9ilidhe
>Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 3:36 AM
>To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
>Subject: [OT] Apprehensive about a credit card
>
>
>I'm thinking of getting a credit card for when I go away to Thailand,
>everyone's telling me not to bring a big lump of cash.
>
>The problems I see with getting a credit card are as follows:
>1) Ridiculously insecure. Someone can take the card and charge whatever
>they want to it.
>2) Might not work... Imagine I got to Thailand, go to buy something and
>get "sorry card doesn't work".
>
>Here in Ireland I can get a credit card that has 0% APR for the first 9
>months so I'm considering taking it up.
>
>Is there any way I can protect against credit card fraud? Especially
>while I'm in Bangkok!
>
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d"
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