Do You Know Someone with a Photographic Memory? Check this Out!

Yusuke Taniguchi, a 34-year-old part-time mall clerk in Japan, was allegedly able to steal more than 1,300 credit cards from his customers—not by physically lifting them, but by memorizing all of the info found on each. Yes: the customer’s name, credit card number, expiration date, and security code.
While it’s tempting to marvel at Taniguchi’s “photographic memory,” many experts say there’s actually no such thing. Instead, he likely has eidetic memory, which allows the person to hold onto information with impressive accuracy and detail for just a short period—usually a few minutes tops. This theory is backed up by the fact that, after Taniguchi’s arrest, police say they found a notebook with all of the stolen info scribbled in it.
Taniguchi used the stolen data to purchase goods online, which he then sold to a pawn shop so he could pay for rent and groceries. His brain ultimately failed him and led to his arrest: Police say he used his own address as the mailing address for the items he ordered online, including the two expensive handbags that finally did him in. Here’s more from Newser.