Credit Card Fraud And What To Look Out For

Posted by Joseph Archibald

November 22, 2009

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.

I have used my own credit cards on the internet thousands of times without any issues but even though I use my cards in stores and restaurants far less, I have been defrauded this way - in a gas/petrol station as a matter of fact. I will happily go on using my cards on the internet on a daily basis but would be more wary of using them offline.

What is skimming? This is where when you hand over you card to a store keeper or whomever and they take it to make payment for your goods or the services you have been given. However, instead of only swiping your card for the one transaction you made, they will swipe the card into a card reader which can then be taken off premises and the data downloaded to a computer or other storage device.

To prevent this from happening on your account - or rather not to prevent, but to be aware - is to check up your statements very regularly. Not only to check them but go through them very carefully too. Thieves often make very small transactions to try to fool us into thinking nothing about them, so its sensible to query even small transactions on your statement.

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.

Nevertheless, here are a few tips to keep in mind when using your credit card:

- 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

- its wise to carry only the card or cards that you really need and any other cards you have, leave them in a safe place at home or in the office

- do not leave any credit card slips lying around or do not just simply throw them in the bin

- check all card receipts against your card statements on a regular basis

- if you are moving home then do let your credit card company know well in advance of your move

So that’s it in a nutshell - some simple but effective measures you can take to reduce all possibilities of fraudulent activity upon your account.

Click the link for further details of low interest and 0% interest credit cards. Or if you need a debt consolidation program, you can find information about this too.

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