As I was reading a passage earlier from “The System of the World” (volume 3 of Neal Stephenson’s amazing
Baroque Cycle) about 18th-century Londoners taking precautions against highwaymen, a thought struck me: when my credit cards expire, I dutifully cut them up and discard them. Why not instead use them to populate a decoy wallet? That way if I’m ever mugged, I just hand over the decoy wallet containing a few expired credit cards, a few bucks, and maybe a phony driver’s license with a false address.
Eh, I’m not really paranoid enough to put this together (not to mention carry two wallets all the time), but if you are and want to use my idea, more power to you.
(Even better: learn magic.)
But with your credit card NUMBER, they could bluff a different expiration date and be home free!