Keeping your credit card number secure is one of the most important things you can do. It keeps the odds of fraudulent charges low and saves you a lot of headaches. However, there are many other ways that you can find that your identity has been stolen and your credit rating ruined.
Pay attention to where you use your credit card. Many people are afraid to use their credit cards online, but there is danger any time your credit card goes out of your sight, such as in a restaurant. Unscrupulous employees have been known to use a machine to record the credit card information of employees for their own use.
Online, you need to make sure the website you are buying from is reputable and has appropriate security. If you don’t see that the address of the payment page begins with https: then don’t buy from that site. The https: indicates that the site is secure. You should also look at their privacy policy and disclaimer. While these may not relate directly to the odds that your credit card information will be secure with the website, they do give an indication as to how the site respects their customers’ privacy and takes care of their data.
Another thing to watch out for is called phishing. This is where you receive an email claiming to be from a well-known company. It could be your credit card company, PayPal, eBay, your bank, someone else’s bank, Amazon... any well-known company. Whatever you do, do not click on any links in that email. In fact, if you can learn to spot likely emails you are best off deleting them without even opening them.
These scammers will create a site that looks like the site of the company they are pretending to be. If you are in doubt about a message, try hovering over the link and see what appears at the bottom of your email browser window. Many will show you the address. If it is not the website of the company, you know it’s a scam. If you still aren’t sure, go open a browser window and type in the address of the company and log into your account from there. If they’re emailing you about an issue, trust me, they will be telling you about it when you log in too.
If you like, you can search the company’s site for an email address to forward the scam email to. This helps get the websites shut down quickly, limiting the number of people who will fall for the scam.
Every month you absolutely must go over your statement to make sure that all charges on there are legitimate. You can be as careful as is humanly possible yet somehow your information gets out there and there’s a fraudulent charge on your account.
You should also pay attention to the news. Every here and there you will hear that one company or another has had their computers hacked into and many people’s credit card information or other personal information has been stolen. However, sometimes companies are not quick to inform you that you are at risk for identity theft. Protect yourself and be aware. You have the right to get your credit report free once a year, so take advantage every year.
Protecting your credit card and other personal information need not be difficult, but a bit of vigilance will go a long way. If you start to see problems you may need to consider taking steps to protect your credit rating even if it means you have to go through extra steps any time you want to apply for credit.
Know Your
Credit Cards