Fraud Protection
Your credit card is a useful and flexible way of managing your financial outgoings. Unfortunately, this makes it an enticing target for criminals. Credit card fraud comes in a variety of forms, which are explained in detail in the article Types of Credit Card Fraud: your card could be lost or stolen and fraudulently used; it could be copied; the details could be stolen and used via the internet, over the phone or by fax and mail order; or you could be a victim of identity fraud, where the criminal will use your personal details to apply for a credit card, or to take over your credit card account.
Thousands of people in the UK have been victims of ID fraud (or 'identity theft'): ensure you take measures to protect your financial details. There are many steps you can take to ensure that your money is not at risk unnecessarily, such as keeping your credit card(s) safe in a zipped pocket or purse, memorising passwords and PIN numbers and keeping security details secret. You should have a different PIN for each card and it should not be easily guessed, such as a birthday or any sequence of numbers that could easily be tried by a criminal, such as 1234. These measures are explained in the article Basic Security Measures.
When you use internet banking to access your credit card account, ensure that you keep any login details secret. If you receive a suspicious e-mail or telephone call and are asked to provide security details relating to your account, do not give out any information. You may be sent an e-mail that appears to be from your bank, but your bank or building society will never request secure information via e-mail, nor via telephone. If you think you have responded to a fraudulent e-mail or telephone call, contact your credit card provider as soon as possible, so that they can freeze your account. Even if you are a telephone banking customer, you will speak to a series of telephone operators and will never be required to give one person all your details. Internet fraud is explained in Online Security.
If you have lost your credit card or it has been stolen, you must inform your banking institution as soon as possible to enable them to freeze your account and prevent any unauthorised payments. For more details see Lost / Stolen Card.
The cost of card fraud in the UK grows each year. The financial cost should not be your only concern however; if you are a victim of credit card fraud, you are likely to be immeasurably inconvenienced while a fraud investigation is taking place. Typically, you would be without the use of your card and must also deal with the uncomfortable emotional impact of personal fraud.
This section acts as a guide to protecting your credit card against unauthorised use. For more details, see:
