In NYC the gas station attendant would run your card through twice. You would sign your charge. He would use your signature as a template for a forgery. With the PIN system it can't be done anymore.

I just received a notice from my bank that my credit card has been "compromised" along with a few thousand others. I am to watch my accounf until they replace the card. Not as bad as a friend of mine who received calls from the FBI and CIA that her identity had been compromised and her life was in danger. She and her husband had purchased a used car in NJ where the clerks had a scam going with a drug cartel. It made the front page of the newspapers. Last I heard she owned a tuxedo shop in Europe. A nightmare and she may never see the end of it.