Checking ID's is far from fool proof . . .
Every card I have says "CID - check id" on the back and the number of times someone asks for ID is almost nill. Most clerks don't even look or seem to care.
Even if they check ID . . . that doesn't mean that the person using the card is the card's owner.
I'm in the retail business, and I can tell you that today's thieves have most, if not all, bases covered.
We've been taken several times, even when checking ID's!
I got hit three years ago during the holiday rush . . . roughly a $4,000 sale!
The card bearer had an ID (Colorado DL) that matched the card . . . and had her picture on it!
20 minutes later the police showed up and told me that the real card holders purse had been stolen at a Border's store in a shopping center not far away from my store only 30 minutes before it was used at my store, and then a couple of other local stores.
And as it turned out, the gal that stole the card had an ID maker in her car so she could steal a credit card . . . make an ID using the original card holders DL and place her own photo on it . . . then laminate it to make it virtually identical to the real thing!
She finally was caught a few months later (partially thanks to security cameras) and was part of a ring of credit card fraud in the Denver metro area.