He tells the victim the card was flagged by security for demonstrating an unusual purchase pattern.

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If a similar pattern hold this year, the 3.5% rise in card spending would correlate to an overall sales bump of 1% or so.

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Each one is stuffed with several hundred tiny glass spheres or shards, of random size and glued in place in a random pattern so that each token, which can be inserted in a credit card, is unique.

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Equally bizarre, the Providence Journal reports that a retired Rhode Island schoolteacher's attempt to pay off a credit card was held up because the transaction did not fit his usual pattern and therefore raised a red flag.

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