With the number of credit card scams going up, you need to be very careful with how you use and store your card.
With so many people using credit cards, it's important to keep an eye on credit card fraud, which is on the rise in a big way on the internet. People who use the Internet know that it's safer to put their credit card number into a secure online form than to give it to a waiter at a restaurant. Research shows that there are more and more cases of fraud where people use other people's credit cards to buy things with their cell phones. This is more common than credit card fraud on the internet.
As a general rule, you should use common sense, and here are some tips to help you avoid credit card scams:
- Keep an eye on your credit card whenever you use it, and if you give it to someone else, get it back quickly. Try not to let your card out of your sight.
- Be careful about who you give your credit card to, and never give your account number over the phone unless you know the company is reputable. Also, it's not safe to give your credit card number to a company over the phone, even if they say they have a "computer problem."
- Don't respond to emails that ask for your credit card information or that tell you to go to a website to verify your personal and credit card information. These are called "phishing" scams, and you shouldn't fall for them.
- Don't give your credit card number to websites that aren't safe.
- You should sign your credit card as soon as you get it and throw away all the applications as soon as you get them.
- You shouldn't write your PIN on your credit card or anywhere else near it.
- Don't just drop your credit cards and receipts everywhere.
- You should hide your credit card number so that people around you can't copy it or take a picture of it with a camera or cell phone.
- Keep a list of your credit card account numbers, expiration dates, and the phone numbers and addresses of each bank that gave you a card in a safe place. When you get a new credit card, you need to add it to this list.
- Try to only carry the credit cards you need, and don't carry extra cards you don't use often.
- You should check your credit card bills right away to make sure there are no fake charges. You should also check your credit card bill every month, just like you check your bank accounts. Keep your receipts so you can compare them to the bills you get every month.
- If you find a charge for which you don't have a receipt or don't know who made it, you need to tell the credit card company about it.
- You should throw away and void any receipts that are wrong, and you should shred anything that has your credit card number on it.
- Don't sign a blank credit card receipt, and if you want to, you can carefully draw a line through the blank spaces where fraudulent charges could be added.
- Even though carbon paper isn't used very often, you should throw it away right away if it was used in a credit card transaction.
- Don't write your credit card account number on a postcard or anywhere else where other people can see it, like in a public place.
- It's best to keep your credit cards in a separate place from your wallet.
- You should never give your credit card to someone else, and if you move, you should let the company that issued your card know.
