What Is Credit Card Fraud And How To Stay Safe From It?

“Keep  your credit card safe from scammers and avoid credit card fraud by storing your details in a  safe and Secure Vault.”

Most of us enjoy convenience of cashless transaction. As it cuts down worry of carrying cash or writing checks. But only a few of us know about the risk involved in using credit and debit card online. Due to which one quarter of the population is a prey to credit card fraud. So, to stay protected from credit card fraud and identity theft what should you do?

Should we stop using plastic money? The answer is definitely No as by taking proactive measures and by using tool like Advanced Identity Protector you can ensure credit card fraud prevention and debit card fraud protection. This tool not only safeguards you from ID theft but also encrypts personal details from credit card to Social Security Number and everything else in an in-built Secure Vault.

What Is Credit Card Fraud And How Does It Happen?

Unauthorized use of another person’s credit or debit card to make purchases or to access funds using victim’s account is considered as credit card fraud.

According to a survey forty percent of U.S. customers prefer using credit cards. And this makes credit card market lucrative for scammers.

More something is used more are the chances of it being abused.

Here, this applies to credit card fraud therefore you need to secure it more than ever. For this you can take help of the best credit card fraud protection and ID theft tool like Advanced Identity Protector.

Why Do You Need A Product Like Advanced Identity Protector?

You think you know how to stay secure on Internet, but no one knows it entirely. When online you’re on your own. Therefore, when online remember not to save card details, PIN, password on electronic device. As one careless step taken by you can make you a victim of credit card fraud and ID theft.  Therefore, you need to pay attention on what you do when online. However, if you think doing it all by yourself is not easy, you can use Advanced Identity Protector to protect yourself.

This tool scans your system for all identity exposing traces and displays a list of them. From here you can decide whether you want to delete them or want to store them in encrypted form in an in-built Secure Vault.

Types Of Credit Card

For those who don’t know within Europe U.K was first country to use credit card. Primarily credit cards are of two types:

Electronic credit cards: one with magnetic strips are known as electronic credit card. Information written on them can be easily read therefore credit card companies are switching to another form for credit card i.e. Smart credit card.

Smart credit cards: work like electronic cards, but they have been embedded with an electronic chip. This smart chip ads additional layer of security making decoding almost impossible.

Is Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft Same?

Since both credit card fraud and identity theft involves someone assuming a false identity they might look similar. But they aren’t both differ from one another on certain levels. Therefore, to build a strong defense for credit card fraud prevention and debit card fraud protection differences between them is worth knowing.

Credit Card Fraud Vs Identity Theft

Credit card fraud can be extremely narrow. This means it can be limited to actual credit or debit theft. While Identity theft is widespread and multi layered just like jigsaw puzzle where you need to join different pieces to create an image.

Credit card fraud involves single credit account while identity theft has the potential of damaging your credit history as the scammer can open multiple accounts in your name.

With appropriate protection in place you can get to know about credit card fraud, but this isn’t true with identity theft as it can take place in various forms.

Impact of credit card fraud is short terms whereas in case of identity theft it can last long even for ages and years.

Therefore to stay secure from credit card fraud and identity theft, you should know about, How To Protect Personal Information Online?

How Credit Card Fraud Takes Place?

The best way to stay  protected from  both credit card fraud and identity theft is to shield sensitive information. For this you can use tool like Advanced Identity Protector as it comes with an in built Secure Vault to store information.

Despite your best efforts, there’s a potential for information breach.

According to a report from the Consumer Sentinel Network, 77% of customers were made a victim via telephone calls 8% via emails and 3% via physical mail. This indicates scammers are becoming proficient at phishing personal information.

Techniques Adopted By Scammers For Credit Card Fraud

Here are a few ways adopted by fraudsters to trick users into revealing information:

1. Threat actors offer gifts or say you have won a prize but to claim it you need to confirm certain information like credit card details, shipping address and others.
2. Fraudsters may say they’re calling from your bank and they need to confirm certain details to send a new card.
3. Diving in your dumpster to find discarded credit card statement, receipts that contain your account number and uses this information to fool you.
4. Uses information collected from data breach attack to contact potential victim and get more information.
5. Phishing attacks i.e. luring customers to fake sites and tricking them into revealing card details. These details are then used to make fraudulent purchases.
6. Fake phone scandal, here the scammer tricks user into believing that his system is infected and to get it fixed, user needs to buy a product for which his credit card information is required. Once user falls for it he becomes a victim of credit card fraud.
7. Mailbox theft.
8. Site Cloning and fake merchant sites.
9. Triangulation, here the fraudster offers good at a heavy discount and to avail discount user needs to enter name, address and credit card information. Once the information is shared scammer uses it to place an order on a genuine site using so called victim’s detail. This causes great deal of confusion and before an action can be taken fraudster accumulates both information and goods.
10. Interest rate reduction scam here scammers take advantage of credit card users who are frustrated due to high interest rate on credit cards. What they do is they call and tell the user that they qualify for a program that will help lower interest rate and pay off credit balance faster. All they have to do is pay a small enrollment fee once they fall for it and share details scammer charges the card.
11. Fraud on your account, scammers call and portray as if they are calling from credit card issuer. They say a suspicious activity has been noticed on the account and they need some information to verify if the account is compromised. They already have some information that they will use to convince you and disclose additional information.
12. Fake hotel front desk calls: hotel is probably the last place you can expect fraudsters to be at. And this is the reason why scammers have started taking advantage of it. You might receive a call in your room stating that the person is calling from front desk and there is some issue in hotel’s computer system due to which your credit card information is required. If you fall for it you become victim of identity theft.
13. Public Wi-Fi scam: to save data you might look for an open Wi-Fi spot, and scammers take advantage of it. What they do is they setup free wi-fi hotspot to get your information. Once you access any banking site or share any of your personal information they collect it and use it for their personal gain.
    0.1% of all credit card transactions are fraud.

Different types of Credit Card Fraud

With time scammers are becoming proficient. They are inventive, and with each attack they become smarter. Credit card fraud isn’t a single action. In fact, there are various forms of it.

Below we mention most common forms of credit card fraud:

1. Application Fraud: this fraud takes place in combination with identity theft. It occurs when perpetrator applies for a new card in victim’s name. To make it happen scammers steal supporting Id’s, documents, and corroborate their fraudulent application with them.
2. Credit or debit card skimming: slowly this form is becoming popular here the threat actor skims information placed on the magnetic strip of the card. To encrypt a fake a card and finish transactions.
3. Never Received: when a new or replacement card is not received by the intended recipient.
4. Card Not Present fraud: this one is the spreading like an epidemic, nearly three quarters of all fraud cases are caused due to it. It can be conducted if someone knows account number and expiry date of the card. It can be done via phone, internet. This means someone uses your card without even having it.
5. Stolen and lost card fraud: next possible type of fraud is when scammer uses the lost or stolen card to make online purchases.
6. Tricky merchants: when employees and merchants work with scammers to deceive banks.
7. Assumed identity: perpetrator uses temporary address and false name to get a credit card.
8. Account takeover: when victim shares personal information like home address, dob etc. with scammer. Who then contacts bank impersonating the cardholder reports loss of card and change of address to get a new card in soon to be victim’s name.
9. Mailbox Fraud: Credit card companies try their best to secure cards in transit, but a new card can still be stolen from your mailbox.
10. EMV card fraud: Looking at the increase in number of credit card frauds, credit card industry is moving to EMV chip enable credit cards. With this scammer are also looking for new ways to fool users. What they do is they pose as credit card issuer and send an email to the consumer warning that the cardholder must update their personal information to receive new chip card. Once the victim falls for it and fill personal information the scammer uses it to commit identity theft.

 Examples Of Credit Card Fraud

No one is safe from credit card fraud from security companies to celebrities all are its victim. Here, we bring for you few interesting cases of credit card fraud

• The Equifax Breach

In 2017, Equifax the credit reporting bureau became victim of a massive breach due to which personal information of over 143 million Americans was at risk.

• Will Smith the actor became a victim of identity theft as a man named Carlos Lomax opened up 14 credit cards in his name and Smith was charged $34,000.
• Bill Gates too became a victim as Alexey K. a Bulgarian college student hacked his personal information to get a credit card.
• Jennifer Aniston, Anne Hathaway, and Liv Tyler were all victims of credit card fraud by a local spa they frequently visited.
• The Best Western Hack well-known hotel chains in 2008 was a victim to credit card fraud and ID theft.
• Anup Patel’s Credit Card Skimming Scam England experienced another crime wave in 2008 that involved credit card skimming. Anup Patel and his accomplice stole more than 19,000 credit card numbers using a gas station credit card terminal.

Who Pays For Credit Card Fraud?

The answer here is: all of us. And by 2025, The Nilson Report suggests we will be losing $45 billion due to credit card fraud. This means credit card fraud isn’t going anywhere soon!

Even if you’re not a victim to credit card fraud, it still affects you. As credit card companies implement higher fees and interest rate on all customers to cover fraudulent charges. This means even after building a good credit score you’ll not be able to enjoy low interest rate because of scammer and increase in credit card fraud.

How To Avoid Being A Victim Of Credit Card Scam?

Even as credit card fraud is becoming prevalent you can keep following points in mind to protect yourself:

1. Always remember no credit card issuer or bank will ever ask you to update personal information over email.
2. Remember, new chip cards are sent automatically by bank.
3. If you have any questions about new EMV card contact customer service using the number given at the back of the card.
4. Avoid clicking on links received in email even if they look genuine. If you have any questions visit the site directly.
5. To reduce risk of being a victim to credit card fraud, add your number to Do Not Call Registry to reduce the risk.
6. Don’t disclose your personal or financial information on any phone call.
7. If you qualify for lower interest rate your credit card issuer will let you know.
8. Keep an eye on your account activity to make sure no one is using your account.
9. Report unauthorized charges to the credit card issuer.
10. Check the email address when replying with any personal information. As can be a dead giveaway tipping you off.
11. Check Card Statements on a Regular Basis.
12. Take immediate action if your card is stolen or lost.
13. Be Diligent With Your Card, Never leave it lying around in open.
14. Check for Security enter credit card when you see “https” and a padlock icon in the address bar.
15. Avoid Email Scams.
16. Don’t Offer Personal Information to Strangers
17. Sign at the back of the card as soon as you receive it. So that even if the card is stolen no one is able to forge or use card for malicious activities.
18. Don’t lend your credit card to anyone.
19. Destroy receipts and never leave them lying around.
20. Avoid taking card pictures or storing them on electronic device.
21. Use card to make purchased on site you trust.
22. Avoid clicking on links received in email and sharing your Social Security Number over an email.
23. Never enter your card information (or social security number, etc.) in response to an email or via an emailed link. Always go directly to the company’s site instead by typing the address yourself.

What Is The Future Of Credit Card Security?

Looking at the increasing number of credit card fraud, the future security of plastic money is uncertain.

Modern day scammers are using Internet as the portal to acquire more personal information by designing

advanced attacks and ways to create fake cards. Therefore, there is a strong need of credit card fraud theft

protection and debit card fraud protection. For this a universal system that can act as best credit card

protector should be used. But till the time card manufactures can decide best credit card protector, you can

use Advanced Identity Protector.

This tool prevents prying eyes from accessing your personal information. Plus, it organizes personal data

securely so that any privacy exposing traces aren’t left lurking behind. To get credit card fraud theft

protection and debit card fraud protection this is the best tool. What’s more Advanced Identity Protector has

an in-built Secure Vault that stores all information in an encrypted form that can be accessed only by you.

All this and more makes it the best debit card fraud protection and credit card fraud theft protection tool.

Since, fraudsters have proven that corrupting the existing system is not difficult we need to create a strong

encrypted system that cannot be decrypted easily. This is what makes Advanced Identity Protector one of

the best credit card protector.  Its in-built Secure Vault uses advanced algorithm to encrypt data.

How To Prevent Debit And Credit Card Fraud?

Electronic Security: To stop hackers from accessing information strong encryption method should be used.

Alternatively, we can use programs like Advanced Identity Protector.

Card Security: to provide credit card fraud prevention this area needs to be improved. Credit card company’s need to use holographic cards to secure users from debit and credit card fraud. These cards are considered as future they will provide greater electronic protection.

Bottom Line: In recent years due to the rise of e-commerce undoubtable escalating levels of credit card fraud has been noticed.  And hackers have exploited the unregulated state of this vast infant market. To combat credit card fraud aggressive measures and sensible steps must be taken.

Always remember no matter where you are and where you’re making purchases you need keep an eagle eye on every transaction and on your card statement.

We hope you enjoyed reading the article. Also, if you know about anyone who has been a victim, or you have story to share please do so in the comments sections.