NFL star Reggie Wayne is finding out the hard way that giving out your credit card number isn't such a good idea. Wayne, who is married, is suing his, uhm, girlfriend, Natasha McKenzie. In the affidavit, Wayne is alleging that McKenzie did it big on Wayne's credit card without asking his permission.

As the story goes, McKenzie, who is 26 years old, just needed Wayne's credit card for a "few little things," like paying her cell phone bill and buying a plane ticket. She was allegedly going to buy the ticket to come and visit Wayne to spend "quality time" with him. To Reggie's surprise, Natasha and her friends "got a little jiggy" with the credit card and charged up $95,000 worth of "necessities." Actually, there were 333 necessities on her list, which is the number of charges she allegedly made to the account.


Wayne originally took the charges to police in April. He has had the uncomfortable challenge of keeping this information from his wife. McKenzie claims that Wayne knew about the charges all along, and that she is only being scapegoated because either his wife found out about her or he has moved on to another mistress. Either way, this entire situation is a little bit strange. Wayne is not the only athlete to be taken for big money as the result of an affair. Tiger Woods allegedly paid millions to keep some of his mistresses quiet.

Well, now that we've had our interesting story of the day, let's go ahead and make a teachable moment out of this. As a finance professor, I feel obligated to figure out what we can learn from this unfortunate situation. Here are four things you can do if your credit card is ever stolen (whether it's taken by your mistress or anyone else):

1) Right now make copies of everything in your wallet. That way, you'll have all the ID numbers you need in case something goes wrong.

2) Call the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TranUnion), and tell them that your cards have been stolen. Then ask them to place a "fraud alert on your cards." When McKenzie had access to Wayne's cards, she could have kept racking up charges even after she told him she would stop. He would have to protect his credit.

3) Call the companies that issued your credit cards and tell them that you think someone took them. Follow up with a letter giving your name, account number, the date you called and a description of the situation. You can also register for services that allow you to make just one call to report that your wallet has been stolen. You should do this whether you lose everything in your wallet or someone has access to your credit card numbers.

4) You can dispute the illegal charges with your credit card company. But in this case, you'd better be ready to press charges in the event that the theft was done by someone you know. You should notify the bank on the phone, via their Web site and also in writing. At this point, they are obligated to investigate.

A side note that has nothing to do with credit cards being stolen: If you can't be faithful to your wife, then don't get married. It's expensive to play, but quite a few athletes try to do the right thing and get married, only to find that the temptation of other women is just too great. In light of the fact that Tiger Woods may have to pay up to $750 million for embracing his alpha male instinct to spread his seed, I argue that any young athlete who isn't completely prepared to bear the cost of infidelity to hold off on marriage for at least a little while. I am sure Wayne's situation is embarrassing for both he and his family, but his mistake is a common one. Infidelity comes down to more than just morals and values; mother nature plays a role as well.

The best prevention of credit card fraud? Don't let anyone have your credit card number. If Wayne was serious about doing his dirt efficiently (which none of us can condone), he might have considered getting a special "Jump Off Prepaid Card," and limiting the amount of money that his mistress might have access to. If he really wanted to be tacky, he might have even gotten her a PayPal account. As Tia Brown and I often discuss in 'Financial Lovemaking', if you've got a lot to lose, you should never give that much power to someone who might later have an incentive to destroy you. Reggie Wayne really messed up.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a finance professor at Syracuse University and author of the book 'Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets With Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good.' To have Dr. Boyce's financial advice delivered to your e=mail, please visit Dr.BoyceMoney.com.