March 18, 2009

• On-line CC Fraud Prevention, Pt.4
    ‘The Underground', Safety and Summary.

  Previous...

  Foreign Spies: Beware of making credit card purchases from, what you believe to be, domestic (from the US) merchants who are registered from third-world countries in Africa, South America and even former Soviet-Block countries. Obviously, thieves do their best work where government security is lax. A red light should blink in your discretionary mind about submitting your sensitive credit card data to these locations. Even if the merchants are legitimate, their surrounding environment leaves other security doors open once the humans on the other end get this data. The sale may go find but, shortly after, you may find that someone else has acquired your vital credit card data.

  Safest Liability: Understand, that your liability is best limited by using credit cards. Not only is it easy for you to dispute charges but, providing you act in a timely fashion, your liability is limited to only $50 per each fraudulent charge and rarely will it even cost you a dime (other then the phone call). In most cases, credit card security organizations will flag a problem before you even know about it and will fix the damage and forward you a new and safe credit card by the time you even find out.

  Credit cards:  These are the way to go (not so with debit cards, however). Unfortunately for the merchants, disputed Internet-based credit card charges usually side in favor of the consumer.

  In Summary:

  • Ensure Secure Connection: Make sure your Internet connection is secure before entering any sensitive credit card data.

  • Validate Merchant: Make sure you can trust this merchant.

  • Monitor Transactions: Keep a close watch on your credit card statements for suspicious charges. Some of the more ominous ones are for $1.00 or $5.95 because these commonly go un-noticed. These ‘preliminary tests' are generally employed by the more-sophisticated thieves just prior the ‘bomb', when they make the big one-time bust.

  • The ‘Safe List': Keep a list of all your vital credit card data, complete with ‘emergency-line' phone numbers, in a safe place at home. If anything goes wrong, you won't be in a panic. Even if every credit card you own is stolen all at once, you can simply call all those phone number over a few minutes of your time and be at peace once more.

  Back to Articles Main Page