My Aerogold Visa has been "compromised" yet again, third time in as many years (and 9 months since the last one). It will be cancelled tonight (at least they were willing to get me through the weekend). I recall a thread on this before my posting days, but I am starting a new one to ask about the experiences of others with this issue. Has it happened to anyone while overseas (my greatest fear), has CIBC ever offered compensation (ie, miles) for ongoing inconvenience, as well as to retain a presently unhappy customer. Any strategies for having a second card that also earns AE miles and has a reasonable annual fee etc. Maybe I'll just apply for a new card with the most bonus miles being offered.

CIBC will not tell me why it was compromised, although I have since found out that a likely common cause is theft of the terminals used by merchants. I did not realize that they retain the card number (if not the PIN) rather than just being a communication device, which seems to me to be a gaping hole in Visa security. I wonder how secure AC's inflight terminals are?

I gather that it is not possible to make a new card with the encoded chip but it seems to me that as card security is allegedly improved (ie, the chip), my card is being compromised with even greater frequency.