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.

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.

The only way to be sure this has or is not happening to you is to regularly check your card statements. Often thieves will make very small transactions so you are not aware of them, so its wise to go through your statement carefully.

Due to the increase of credit card fraud over the past number of years, banks have in place higher security measures and also better compensation plans for those unfortunate enough to have experienced it.

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

- other than your credit card statements and receipts - anything not worth keeping that is related to your credit card account - you should either shred up or burn. Its best not to simply throw in the bin

- 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 simply lend out your card to anyone, other than those you can really trust

- 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

- moving home? Make sure you let your credit card company know about it well in advance

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.

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