DEAR ABBY: I write this as a warning to older people about lending their credit cards to a new friend or neighbor. Normally, it's done because the older person can't pick up his or her own prescription or run an errand, so he or she gives a credit card to the new acquaintance.
My friend's mother gave her credit card to a woman who, in one afternoon, ran up more than $10,000 in charges and then took off. The police can do nothing about it because the "kind person" had written permission to use the card. The poor trusting victim had to declare bankruptcy because she could not pay off the debt on her small pension.
Abby, please warn your readers never to blindly trust a person they do not know well. -- WANTS TO HELP IN HEMET, CALIF.
DEAR WANTS TO HELP: What a horror story! The lesson here is that people who blindly trust get robbed blind. A safer way to handle such a situation would be for the credit card owner to call the pharmacy (or store) and give the card number when the item is being picked up.