Here's the tip off: FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN THINK OF.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/cardscams.asp

It's still good to be careful, even if there are extreme possible cases like this.

Funniest part is that the way that most scammers grab card information, isn't by swapping cards, (how do they have one that's identical looking to yours?) or trying to take a picture (silly!) with a cell phone camera.

They have a device which is a reader and it takes the information right off your card and stores it into memory. Then this information is used to make a fake card, with a perfect replica magnetic strip. Then they use it to drain your account, through an ATM (if they know the pin number as well) or have a bunch of people charge small amounts over a month at gas stations.

You aren't liable even if you don't know it was stolen and haven't reported it yet!