Protect Yourself from Credit Card Fraud
I always say, What you save, you earn! And by protecting yourself against fraud and scams you prevent others from taking advantage of you and your earnings. So really safeguarding your earnings and assets against fraudsters is also a kind of saving! Read on to know what you can do to protect yourself against credit card fraud:
Never give anyone your card: This is stating the obvious but bears repeating. Even if an honest looking well dressed young exec type tells you his company is offering you a new credit card with a higher limit, don’t be tempted. He may even make you fill out a form but do not hand over your current credit card to this personable stranger. Also keep your credit card safe and in a secure place.
When you lose your credit card, inform the credit card company immediately: This also may be an obvious one, but it bears repeating that the earlier you report the loss, the fewer the chances of the card being misused. As soon as you inform the company, they can freeze the card and no further use can be made of it.
Also inform the company immediately if you don’t receive your credit card statement regularly. It could be that a fraudster has changed your billing address and that is the reason you aren’t getting your bills regularly.
Keep all passwords, PINs and TINs securely and change them frequently: Also it goes without saying that you never keep your passwords and PINs together with the card or have obvious ones like your birth date etc.
Use chip based cards: Rather than the black magnetic stripe, chip based cards offer better user protection. Copying the data on the chip or tinkering with it in any way is way more difficult so your card is safer. Many establishments do not even accept non chip based cards.
Be careful while shopping online: Fraudsters have a number of innovative ways to get your credit card information online. So be sure to use your credit card only on those sites that are secure. Usually the site name will be prefixed with https instead of just http to indicate security and the little yellow lock will signify that.
Destroy all old cards: If you now have a new card with a higher limit or because the old one expired, make sure that you destroy the old one properly to protect yourself against identity theft. This youtube video shows you exactly how to destroy your old credit card:
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