This e-mail was about cash back scams.
  My friend had made a purchase at Wal-Mart and was told by the cashier that the do it yourself scanner was broken.
  The cashier offered to "run the card" for her.
  If you are ever given this line, be very, very wary.
  Why? Once back at home my friend found that her receipt was for $20.
00 more than her purchase.
  There was a $20.
00 cash back option on the receipt and she had not asked for or gotten $20.
00 back in cash.
 This is another reason to always check your receipts while you're still in line.
  My friend contacted Wal-Mart and is her situation was resolved to her satisfaction but still she wanted to warn others about cash back scams.
  In fact, she herself had received a similar message about cash back scams but the store in question had been Target.
  She'd planned to check this out later on urban myth site Snopes.
com but instead she found out that she had already been a cash back scam victim.
  The forwarded warning message maybe part urban myth, part true crime drama, but in this case there may have been more fact than fiction to it.
  At the beginning of this year a Target employee was arrested for scamming a Target for over $1,000.
00.
  There were two parts to this scam.
  The first was to ring up items and double the coupons to make the purchases in some cases free.
  The second part of the scam was to run a cash back for one amount such as $20.
00 and then hand over a higher amount like $40.
00.
  Surely this was suspicious when the cash drawer was repeatedly short.
  The cash back scam is enough to make one leery of using debit cards despite their convenience.
 Recently I listened in on a social networking site discussion over paper versus plastic.
No, not paper grocery bags verses plastic grocery bags but debit and credit cards verses checks.
  One shopper had become very annoyed while waiting for someone to write a check, record the information in the check register and move out of line.
  This discussion board poster wondered aloud if people should even still be allowed to use checks.
  I think this scam illustrates at least one reason some people may still hold onto the pen and ink payment system.
  Debit cards have become the norm for shopping whether online or in brick and mortar stores.
  Like many consumers, I enjoy the convenience of the debit card verses checks and I find that spend more and know less about my purchases when I use cash.
Also, I LOVE the cash back option at stores because I am already there and I don't have to make an extra trip to the bank or incur hefty ATM charges.
  Unfortunately, debit cards don't have all of the same built in protections that credit cards do.
  "Debit card scams are a nightmare," warns Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.
S.
Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) in Washington, D.
C.
"You don't get the same consumer protection as with a credit card.
" What's the difference? By federal law, your liability for unauthorized transactions with a credit card is limited to $50.
00.
But that limit only applies to a debit card if you notify the within two business days after the theft occurs.
If you don't you could be charged up to $500 in unauthorized card purchases.
  If you fail to report the bogus charges within 60 days after your bank statement is mailed, your liability is unlimited.
So, how can we continue to have the convenience and ease of use we crave and be protected from fraud and theft? -       If a cashier offers to run your debit card for you, look at your receipt immediately and make sure that no unauthorized charges are listed, especially those for cash back amounts.
-       Use checks whenever possible.
  You can fill it out while in line with date and store then all you need to do is add the amount and your signature.
-       When your debit card purchase is done, be sure to look at that final question .
.
.
"is this amount correct?" and make sure that no additional cash back charges have appeared.
-       Last but also very important, be sure to come home and check your debit card purchases online within 48 hours.
Make sure the amount is as it should be and that no unauthorized charges have occurred.
  Be patient with those in line in front of you who are going over their receipt carefully before they move on.
  They, as well as you, have good reason to check receipts against cash back scams.