Credit Card Fraud And What To Look Out For

Credit card fraud is no new thing and if you ask around you will possibly find at least one person you know who has been the victim of such a crime. And no, its not all internet – based either. Often it will happen when you least expect it to, in restaurants and in stores and shops.

It can be argued that now it is safer to use your credit card on the internet via a secure order form (SSL) than it is to use it in a restaurant, which most people would choose not to believe. This is called “skimming”. So, lets say you have your meal and hand over your card to the waiter for payment. They then take the card and within a minute its back in your possession.

So how can we be the victim of offline credit card fraud? Nothing new here – its called “skimming”. What is skimming? Its where, for example, you give your card to a waiter or waitress in a cafe or coffee shop to make payment. Shortly they return your card to you and you think nothing more of it. What has happened though is that the card has been “swiped” for payment, not once but twice. So your card details are now being stored in a magnetic card reader which can then be downloaded to a computer for use.

The only way to ensure that this is not taking place on your account is to make regular checks on your credit card statement. Its often the case that thieves will make very small transactions on your account so do go through your statement thoroughly and anything that just does not seem to add up you should query.

Banks and institutions do have in place much greater security measures and will also often compensate in full if you have been the unfortunate victim of fraud, but this is no reason for complacency. I did not receive any compensation due to some issues that are not worth discussing here, so its sensible not just to presume you will be fully compensated.

Here are a few things you can do to limit your risk:

- keep very safe all credit card statements and shred anything that you do not wish to keep that has your details on. Do not put anything in the bucket without shredding it first

- if you are asked to verify some of your credit card details over the telephone, you need to question this seriously. Who is the caller and why do they need your details and do you trust this person enough to provide the details?

- do not lend your credit card out to anyone unless you trust them implicitly

- only carry the credit card or cards that you need and leave the rest in a safe place

- if you use your card at a store, restaurant, shop or similar, do not leave the credit slip lying around or do not just simply put in the bucket

- do check your statements on a regular basis to make sure there is no strange expenses on there

- if you are relocating, do let your card companies know about this well in advance

So there we are, some simple but very effective ways to lower any risks to our credit cards and ensure we do not suffer from credit card theft.

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