Simple Measures to Prevent Credit Card Frauds and Scams

A large percentage todays credit card theft does not happen online; it happens by a merchant employee who make a personal copy of the clear-text account information on the physical credit card at the time of purchase. This information is gathered and then solid on the Internet black-market. The growing popularity of this type of theft has provided the fraudsters and scammers with a medium to carry out financial frauds virtually undetected. Once the information is copied off of the physical credit card it can be sold to other fraudsters and used online or over the phone without the physical card. Some of the key information about the credit card like its number and three digits security code can be used by any unauthorized person to charge the card online. That is why; every credit card holder needs to exercise some amount of care and cautions to avoid the financial loss associated with credit card fraud theft.rn1. Mask Your Card at all times with a Credit Card Mask. Your credit card account number is exposed for your personal use when making manual or card-not-present such as online or over the phone purchases. 95% of all card-present transactions use a Point-of-Sale credit card terminal which can read your hidden credit card information the magnetic strip on back of your card. Before applying a Credit Card Mask, you can make a secure copy of this information which you can carry securely and only use for manual or card-not-present transactions. The credit card masks are designed specifically to hide the important information printed on the back and front side of the cards.rn2. Avoid allowing a business to store a clear-text copy of your credit card information. Many companies will require a clear-text copy of your credit card information to process your purchase at a later date or as a security deposit. If possible ask if you can pay with cash or check. If not, than have a credit card you use for high-risk transactions such as this or over the phone transaction. The credit card should have low availability and you should manually examine your transactions. Also make a point to get the full name of the employee and let him know you are holding him personally accountable for the protection of your credit card information. rn3. Identify and Avoid Online Credit Card Scams: Most of the online stores require their customers to make payment using credit cards. As the credit cards have become a common medium of online payments, the fraudsters also send emails to the genuine people asking to share their credit card information. Normally, these emails appear like genuine notification send by a bank or financial institution. When you receive any emails requesting you to share the credit card number or security code, you must not reply to such emails. Similarly, you have to check the credibility of the website, while making payment for the items purchased from an online store.rn4. Avoid Sharing Information Over Telephone: Similar to internet, the fraudsters also make phone calls to obtain the credit card information of the individuals. These scammers often pretend making calls from the security and fraud department of various credit card companies to gain the trust of the credit card users. Many people even share their credit card number or security code, without suspecting any types of malicious intentions. When you receive any calls from such persons, you must not continue the conversation. Also, you can avoid sharing any information that can adversely affect the measures already implemented for the protection credit card.