It is important that you guard the details of your credit card and be extremely cautious about to whom you give this information. With the convenience of the Internet for shopping and paying bills using credit cards comes the risk of being conned out of your money by fraudsters who are constantly devising ways of gaining the personal information they need to use your credit card. If you stop for a minute and think of all the ways you do use your credit card to make purchases you will realize the many ways you could be opening yourself up to fraud.
When shopping online you have to make sure that the site you use is secure. Such sites are usually denoted by https. This means that when you enter your information the software on the site encrypts the data so that others using the server on the page cannot gain access to your private information. It is also important that when you do enter your credit card information online that you do so on your own computer rather than one that is shared among many users. You should also clear your browser cache from time to time to ensure that someone else cannot see what pages you accessed and try to gain access to your credit card in this way.
Always make sure that the site you use for online shopping is secure. These sites will have a privacy statement assuring you that you won’t be endangering your credit card information by shopping on them. Some of the details of personal information that a fraudulent person can use if he/she does obtain your credit card number is your mother’s maiden name and the three digit number on the back of the card. These two pieces of information could open you up to fraud if you give them to the wrong person.
There has been an increase in the number of calls people in the UK have been receiving of late requesting details of their credit cards promising to get them a better interest rate. These are not legitimate calls. If you do receive one of these calls, you should ask the caller for the name of the company and the telephone number so that you can return the call. Chances are you won’t get the information and the caller will likely hang up.
In recent months, consumers in the UK have been the subject of fraudulent emails from persons claiming to be from HM Revenue and Customs. In these email, consumers are told that they are entitled to a tax refund and in order to claim this money they must enter their credit card details. The government will never contact you by email and will never ask for a credit card number. However, there have been many consumers who have fallen for this and have lost large amounts of money.
There has been an alarming increase in the number of people taken in by phishing scams delivered through email. If you get what seems to be an email from your bank or credit card company asking you to update your personal information, you should contact the bank or company first to verify that they did send the email.
Alisdair Cosgrove is a freelance writer specializing in personal finance. You can read more of his work at www.JSNet.org for credit card comparisons including
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