Significantly less than the Best Buy possible

As if anyone's inclined to dispose of serious income in a retail store these days, there's news from Palm Beach that a Best Buy employee has been arrested on suspicion of using a rogue card reader to steal credit-card information from shoppers.

The employee, who has not yet been named by officials at either the electronics chain or the Secret Service (which carried out the investigation), is accused of running her scam during the November-December holiday season. It's believed she may have grabbed data from as many as 4,000 customers.

And if that festive scene isn't cheery enough for you, may I direct you to the Consumerist blog? A conversation over there about the alleged thefts is degenerating into can-you-top-this stories about just how easy, prevalent and undetected such thefts are. Fabulous.