I think you're correct. The quotes in the article make more sense in the light of stolen cards being "concealed" in other magnetic strips which aren't credit cards.

  Many times, criminals illegally clone valid payment cards
  on to non-descript pieces of plastic like hotel room keys 
  and subway cards, making detection and interrogation 
  nearly impossible. Since virtually any plastic card with 
  a magnetic stripe can re-purposed as a credit, debit or 
  prepaid payment card, being able to determine the 
  identity of the card is critical to your investigation.

The whole thing is moot once chips are (finally) in major use.