A fairly straightforward and simple way for a thief who has knowledge of credit card fraud to “make a living” is by stealing credit card numbers, at least for a short period. Now, you may be thinking you are very safe but lets look at some facts.
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 other financial institutions have powers to compensate you in full should you be the unfortunate victim of credit card fraud but should be any reason for complacency. They will not always compensate you which is what happened to me, although thats a long and rather complicated story.
Here are a few pointers to help in reducing your credit card fraud potential:
- 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 ever asked to provide credit card account details over the phone you have to ask why. Its possible this could be fraudulent activity to be very sure before you divulge anything at all
- do not lend you credit cards to anyone unless you trust them implicity
- leave any cards you do not need at home or at least in a very safe place. No need to carry them around with you if you don’t need them
- 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
- check all card receipts against your card statements on a regular basis
- 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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