Prevent & Manage Credit Card Fraud

Credit card fraud is the most common type of identity crime. Although, not every thing is in your control, there are a few things you could do to prevent and manage debit or credit card fraud. Here are a few examples:

Keep track of your wallet - very few people are aware of the contents in their wallets. This may include debit or credit cards they carry in their wallet or purse, other personal information such as a Personal Identification Number (PIN) written on a piece of paper or a social security card. Always take an inventory of what you carry with you. List the inventory related information such as the type of the card, its number, etc. and keep it in a safe place. This will make sure you can report and recover your lost item in a timely manner, while, limiting credit card fraud damage.

Use your wallet carefully - Every time you take your wallet out of your pocket or purse to pay for a purchase, you may expose other confidential information to people around or behind you in line such as a driver's license information including your name, address, date of birth, and driver's license number. Use it less frequently and discretely as it may include many valuable personal information, which may be exposed to theft, loss and privacy risks.
Don't carry them all at the same time - you probably don't need all your cards with you at all times. The less you carry with you, the less exposed you will be to credit card fraud. Go through the contents of your wallet and purse periodically and ask yourself, do I need really need all these cards with me?

Store them in a safe place - if you answered "no" to the question above, then you need to have a fireproof safe box in your home or office to store all those cards when you don't carry them with you.

Notify banks and close the accounts - upon discovery that your credit cards have been lost or stolen, notify the banks immediately and ask to close your accounts to avoid credit card fraud.

Cancel your lost cards even if you recover them - If the privacy of your credit or debit card is compromised, meaning, the card number becomes known to criminals, you are at credit card fraud risk even if you recover and physically possess the cards.

Don't get too many credit cards - this is good for a few reasons; first, it's good for your credit, second, to get a credit card, you have to share your personal information with a bank, and in my opinion, the less you share your information with others, the more secure your identity will be, and third, you are less likely to lose what you don't have, therefore, reducing your chance of facing a credit card fraud. These are all good reasons, especially if you don't have to have another credit card.

Don't use your debit card for purchases - during your next purchase, when the smiling cashier asks you whether you would like to use your ATM card as a debit or credit, say "CREDIT". If you use your card as a credit card, you don't have to use and reveal you Personal Identification Number also known as PIN, and that in my opinion, is what I call eliminating unnecessary risks.

Don't keep your PINs and cards together - always keep them separate. That way, if you lose your card, getting cash would be difficult for the thieves without the PIN which otherwise would be a very easy debit or credit card fraud. On the other hand, writing the PIN or any other passwords or pass phrases in an encrypted or coded manner like a self-developed code is a good idea, because they will not be useful to criminals if you lose them. I personally keep my passwords and PINs in an encrypted manner which I have developed for my own use.

Shred your credit card statements - After you get your monthly credit card statements, if you decide to discard them instead of filing them in a secure location, then use a shredder to discard them. Your credit card statements include many personal information that need to be protected, even after you decide you have no need for them. This idea should not be limited to just credit card statements but also to all other statements with personal information received from other financial institutions. I personally keep my last 3 statements in a secure and organized location, replacing them constantly with the new ones I get every month. To detect credit card fraud, know your statement cycles and follow-up any time you don't get them on time.
Use only cash whenever you can - well, this is no brainer. By using cash, you exchange no personal information in the course of your shopping transactions, unless of course when you decide to complete a survey. In my opinion, less personal information you share with others, less exposed you are to identity theft risks.

Use fraud alerts to prevent identity theft - placing fraud alerts on credit reports is a good way to reduce the risk of identity theft. Learn about the types of fraud alerts, how they work and how you can use them in your advantage.

Consider hard core credit freeze - the only way you can stop the sharing of your credit reports without your authorization with third parties is by placing credit or security freeze on your credit reports. And without a credit report, it will be hard to commit a credit card fraud.

Check your credit reports regularly - monitor your credit report on a periodic basis, preferably every 3 months. This will help you detect any unusual or unauthorized transactions on a timely basis. Statistics point out that most identity theft crimes go undetected for 6 months. You need to be proactive for detecting this crime, although, you may be contacted by the credit card company about unusual transactions not characteristic of your shopping habits.

inquire about the privacy and disclosure policies - I have previously pointed out that sharing less personal information with others is a preventive control against identity theft; however, if and when you do decide to share because of legitimate and needed business transaction, beware of the company's privacy and security policies and measures. The policies will tell you how the company intends to use your information and whether they will share your information with others, how often, and in what format. Sometimes, the companies share the collected personal information with other affiliated entities. Therefore, based on their policies, you may even decide not to do business with that company if you feel uncomfortable with what the company intends to do with your information which may lead to credit card fraud.