On the other hand, the same people who won't buy on the Internet because they're afraid of having their credit card information stolen have no problem buying with that same credit card in a brick-and-mortar store, or paying for lunch, dinner, or drinks with the card—even in a back-street bar or restaurant they wouldn't take their mother to. Credit card receipts get stolen from these places all the time, or fished out of trash bins in the back alley. And any unscrupulous clerk or waiter can jot down your name and card info, or use a gadget readily available on the Internet, a card-swiping device that stores data from any credit card passed through it, for later retrieval.