Chismillionare's tip to buffer the impact of fraud/identity theft

This came up during discussion today at lunch:

To help prevent the risk of fraudulent charges, simply open an additional checking account at your bank. You simply have one for direct deposit and checks and the other for ATM and debit transactions. Simply transfer in the amount of money you see fit to your debit account while leaving the main account safe.

That way if your debit account is compromised and charges result, your existing checking account balance is not impacted in the time between filing a fraud complaint and and a credit being issued to your account.

Especially useful while travelling or on vacation.