Credit card fraud is officially back on the rise. Despite over 1.1 million devices in the UK now using Chip and PIN – a change that caused a 13% initial drop in shop fraud – credit card fraud has been rising since 2007, reaching a new high of £609,000,000 in April 2009.
The Cheque and Card Fraud Unit, set up 7 years ago to combat card fraud, has seized over 45,000 counterfeit cards and charged 190 people with credit card fraud, claiming to have prevented the theft of over £300,000,000 in the process. Even so, there is only so much this unit can do to help us, as over 50% of all credit card fraud is made up of CNP (card-not-present) fraud; by telephone, internet and mail order. In these cases, personal information must be sent to a third-party in order for transactions to go through – leaving the consumer at serious risk. Actions to combat this kind of fraud include Verified by Visa, and Mastercard Securecode, designed to improve security. Emue Cards designed by Visa are a further advancement on this security, which combine card chips with technology that requires a cardholder to enter their PIN number into a keypad before generating a single-use code to use during transaction. These are all steps in the right direction, but we cannot rely on everybody else to fight the war of credit card fraud for us – we have to take some responsibility for our own protection. The cause of the rise in credit card fraud is unclear; perhaps it is related to the economic depression, perhaps it is due to the overall increased use of credit cards for online purchases – either way, there are lots of simple things we can all do to help protect ourselves.
It’s not just your use of cards and merchant accounts that give away your information; supermarket loyalty schemes, surveys and marketing services all make use of your data for commercial purposes; making it even easier for determined criminals to get hold of and use your personal information. Even merely allowing your browser to accept cookies allows other people to transfer information to and from your hard disk!
So start being sensible about things; put some effort into your passwords, stop writing them down and definitely stop using the same passwords and PIN numbers for every account you have! Don’t write Don’t give your personal information up without being absolutely sure about who you are giving it to and never, ever, ever give your account number to somebody who calls you over the phone! Start checking your monthly statements and be sure to destroy any documents that contain personal or sensitive information before disposing of them. If your address changes, ensure that you let you banks and utility providers know immediately to prevent personal documents being sent to strangers!
Don’t stop there; start clearing unnecessary cookies and temporary files from your computer – it takes a matter of seconds. Employ a credit reference agency to check all your personal details for you and maybe even consider registering with the Mailing Preference Service provided by the Direct Marketing Association; it’ll remove your name from up to 95% of all direct mail lists in the UK!
Implementing just a few of these changes will greatly increase your own personal safety and help protect you from the growing levels of credit card fraud that are responsible for millions of pounds of losses every year.
Peter Lynt is a financial advisor and co-manages two Surrey-based financial service providers. For more information about credit card fraud protect and merchant accounts, please visit http://www.seymourdirect.co.uk/ Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/help-yourself-to-avoid-credit-card-fraud-981051.html
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