How to Avoid Credit Card Scams
Credit card scammers are becoming ever more ingenious with the scams they try to pull off. You need to stay on your toes and be ahead of their game. You need to ensure you keep up to date with all the different types of scams someone might try. Knowing how to avoid a credit card scam is key to keeping your credit safe.
The following are some general tips to ensure that you do not fall foul of any scammer:
Phishing Phone calls
Never give your credit card number, social security number, driver’s license number, or even your address to anyone who phones you asking for these details. Scammers are trying to get card holders to give them vital information about themselves and their accounts by ‘cold’ calling. The caller will claim there is suspicious activity on your card and they need to verify it is your information. If you are in any doubt about the genuineness of a call, tell the caller you will phone them back. Call the customer service number on the back of your card and ask if they have been trying to reach your regarding your account.
You Need My Personal Details?
Never respond to an email asking you for personal financial information. Banks and credit card providers will never solicit this information from you in an e-mail. They’re fully aware of the dangers of phishing scam e-mails.
Phishing Emails
Never click on a link in an e-mail if you are not sure of the genuineness of the e-mail sender. More and more fraudsters are obtaining vital personal information about credit cardholders by persuading them to click on e-mail links and complete bogus online forms.
Dispose Your Statements Carefully
Never throw your card statement away in the trash bin whole. Criminals are not adverse to checking through people’s trash. They are looking for vital financial information that can be used to defraud them. To dispose of old credit card statements, make sure you put these through a shredder. Better yet, sign up for paperless statements so you don’t have to worry about a physical paper that can be found.
Take Command of the Situation
Never leave your credit card unattended. There is no reason whatsoever why you should ever have to let your credit card out of your sight. If the salesman tells you then need to check something, tell them they have to do this in front of you. If you are at a restaurant and the wait staff need to take your card from the table to make the charge, you are within your rights to follow them.
Combating credit card fraud is the responsibility of every credit card user. If we can help to reduce the cost to credit card providers for losses arising from fraud, the savings should trickle down to us as credit card users. More importantly, however, is if you can show that you did not act in a way that would have reduced the chances of your having been defrauded, you will not be held accountable for some of the loss incurred as a result of that behavior. So always remain vigilant and aware of any scam that UK credit card fraudsters may try on you.
