February 4,2009
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News: The CC Fraud Fight.
"How can I be completely safe from credit card fraud or, at least, be better protected?" Of course the answer to the first part is don't own a credit card. If you want to be completely protected from car theft then, don't buy a car. The second part of the question is a little more practical for most of us. We get more concerned when reports come out of major credit card theft occurrences like the one last week concerning Heartland Payment Systems.
Perhaps millions of credit card transactions were compromised. This does not mean millions of credit card accounts, however. Undoubtedly, many of these transactions were attached to some cards with multiple transactions (typical).
We don't know yet how many individual credit card accounts were affected but, it promises to be a large number. Already, 30 different credit card lenders have been notified that hey must issue new replacement cards to some of their consumers. Class actions suites have already been filed but, none of this will undue the concern we all feel about being vulnerable.
Even before the Heartland incident, the credit card fraud industry was doing well financially. Since 2005, they already enjoyed the prosperity of a quarter-billion dollars, stolen from credit cards. As far as us consumers, we're not asked to bear all the brunt. For one thing, we're only limited to a $50 exposure as long as we notify our lender within 60 days of the incident. After that, however…guess you know. Our government has provided us with the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) for that purpose. One of the biggest problems with the mechanism is, however, sometimes we don't find out, ourselves, until after the 60 days.
What happens is that the thieves manage to get our statements routed to their special PO Box instead of us. We don't necessarily keep track of when bills arrive (they usually manage to find us well enough on their own). The protection here, of course, is to track when to expect our monthly statements. In addition, automatic e-mail reminders and monitoring on-line statements are helpful. Also, be wary of solicitations and give no secure information on-line of via the phone where you didn't initiate the call, (even if you must call the party back). Never use an e-mail hyperlink to reach a place you'll be providing secure information. There is no ‘sure thing' but still, vigilance is advised.