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13 ways Protect your Credit Cards from Fraud

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Here are a number of ways you can protect your credit cards from fraud.

2C1. Keep a sharp eye on your credit card accounts. Read through the purchases for every monthly statement to see if any unfamiliar or odd items show up. Don’t just skip past small purchases; a charge for $9.95 could still be fraudulent. A crook knows you’re less likely to pay attention to small numbers. Consider checking your statements online weekly or even better, download your banks mobile app and check them daily.

2. Immediately contact your bank. By law, credit card companies have to give you 60 days to refute unauthorized charges. And with “zero liability policies”  fraudulent charges are often squashed as long as a year later. However the sooner you contact the bank upon suspecting fraudulent activity, the more likely the credit card issuer will reverse the fraudulent charges. The compromised account should be closed and a new card and account issued and opened, respectively.

3. Credit card monitoring services. These are free or fee based and often included in identity theft protection services and will keep an eye on your credit score as well as inquiries for new credit, and balance charges.

4. Implement activity alerts. Your accounts should have these; the alerts can come via e-mail or text for various card related activity, such as based on amount or frequency. You can text messages for every card present (in person) and card not present (online) transaction.

5. Go virtual. If your bank offers it, use a virtual credit card number online. These are card numbers that change every time you use them.

6. Skimming awareness. Credit card skimming is when a thief sabotages the card reader (such as an ATM’s), allowing him to get your card’s data. Look for signs of tampering like loose parts on the keypad or a camera looking down on the console. Conceal the keypad with your other hand when you enter your PIN. A skimmer can also use a handheld device and skim your card right in his hand. Be very careful whom you give your card to for a purchase.

7. Don’t save. That is, your credit card information with an online merchant. Instead, manually enter it every time you shop. The hassle of this means more security.

8. Financial tracking apps. These are free and can alert the cardholder to odd activity, such as an unusually large purchase. I like Mint by Intuit. BillGuard is great too.

9. Be alert. In addition to unauthorized charges showing on your card’s statement, be on the lookout for strange bank account withdrawals, collection notices for debts you’ve never heard of, being rejected for credit applications, among other red flags.

10. Shop securely on Wi-Fi. Use an encrypting software such as Hotspot Shield VPN. VPN is virtual private network and will prevent snoops and crooks from spying on your online activities.

11. Use reputable sites. Make purchases only from reputable sites you’ve already shopped at or otherwise trustworthy sites like eBay (check sellers ratings) and Amazon.

12. Updates. Set your computer’s or device’s critical security patches to automatically update; these patches help correct newly-discovered vulnerabilities. And speaking of updates, make sure you update your antivirus and your browser to the latest version, to correct vulnerabilities.

13. HTTPS.  The HTTPS at the beginning of the browser before the URL, means that the site is secure. Never input your credit card number on a site that does not have the HTTPS in the URL field. The HTTPS means there’s encryption on that particular page.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

Credit Card Fraud Security Bleak

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The U.S. is no Superpower when it comes to card payments: the card hacking headquarters of the world.

2CDon’t count on credit card fraud going away too soon. After all, Americans practically sleep, eat and breathe credit card use. And it’s those doggone magnetic strips on the cards that keep getting consumers, retailers, banks and the card companies in a fix. The strips make it so easy for hackers—and they know it.

It’s high time that the U.S. switch to encrypted chips in the cards—ready to be launched soon, but security experts aren’t breathing easy yet. The squabbling among banks, card companies and retailers over who’s responsible for protecting consumers isn’t helping, either.

Recently Congress demanded that the financial and retail industry leaders come up with plans for securing customer data. And they’d better act soon or consumer trust in these cards that drive the U.S. economy will take a big dive.

“This has the potential for people to question the viability of our payment system,” points out Venky Ganesan, venture capitalist with Menlo Ventures. Cards are the bread and butter of America, responsible for about 70 billion payments last year, worth $4 trillion (Nilson Report).

Only 11 percent of merchants are sufficiently compliant with the credit card security standards, says a study from Verizon Enterprise Solutions.

The magnetic strip, as innocuous as it appears to the typical consumer, stores that consumer’s personal financial information. Most other nations ditched this “antiquated” system years ago, using instead the EMV: based on chip technology, securing payment transactions.

The payments industry, however, has named 2015 as a deadline to get the chip technology going. But all things considered, that’s still a long ways off. And retailers are whining over the many billions of dollars it will take to replace point-of-sale technology.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to AllClearID. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video. Disclosures.

Credit Card Theft increasing for Banks and Retailers

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2013 was the year of 740 million records involving data breaches. And that number may be erring quite on the conservative side, according to the Online Trust Alliance. The records come from a list on the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Chronology Data Base.

2CThe list is that of publically disclosed breaches, including the alleged 110 million that struck the big retailer December 13. Many of the listed breaches are of a non-descript number.

The more electronically connected everything becomes, the greater the potential for data breaches—it’s almost as though all this advancement in online data storage and transmission is setting us backwards.

Cybercriminals are good at keeping pace with the progression of online security tactics, matching every leap and bound. This is why organizations must put security and data protection at the top of their priorities and be ready to handle a major breach.

Unfortunately, no one-size-fits-all defense against cyber-fraudsters exists. Nevertheless, there do exist best practices that can optimize a company’s protection against cybercrime.

Let’s take a look at some highlights of the data breaches of 2013.

  • Though that conservative 740 million records was disclosed, 89 percent of the breaches and loss of data incidents could have been thwarted.
  • 76 percent of breaches were due to stolen or weak account credentials.
  • In 2013 alone, 40 percent of the top breaches were recorded.
  • Insider mistakes or threats accounted for 31 percent of insiders.
  • Social engineering was responsible for 29 percent of breaches.
  • Physical loss such as forgetting where one placed a device, flash drive, etc., was responsible for 21 percent of the data loss incidents.

The 2014 Data Protection & Breach Readiness Guide can help service providers and app developers for businesses grasp the issues, factors and solutions that will fire up data protection tactics and bring about a development of strategies for managing a data breach incident.

Smart businesses think proactively:

Smart businesses are investing in their client’s security. Consumers want to know they are being protected before, during and after a transaction.

8 Tips to prevent post Holiday Credit Card Fraud

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With your cards being used online, over the phone and in person it’s easy to lose track of purchases. The key is keep good records and be diligent about your security. Here are eight great tips that will go a super long way in preventing post holiday account takeover in the form of credit card fraud.

2C#1. To ensure your best chances of escaping fraudulent activity involving your credit card (which can occur even if the card isn’t stolen), follow these tips:

  • Go over every transaction online and account for it. Inquire about unfamiliar purchases with family members who are permitted to use your card.
  • Immediately phone the card issuer if you spot a suspicious transaction.

#2. Document order confirmations. Screenshot the final confirmation page of your purchase, and save the confirmation e-mail.

#3. Personal information protection. Before you buy online, review the website’s privacy policy regarding personal information requests and how this will be used. Consider it a red flag if you can’t find this information.

#4. Online purchase security. A secure website will have an icon of a padlock, followed by https:// before the website address in the URL. There are also many toolbars that offer a greet/red color code this is usually a feature in most browsers.

#5. Phishing scams. If any e-mails come your way requesting your personal or financial information, don’t click the malicious link inside; delete immediately. Some scam e-mails try to convince you there’s a problem with your order. Contact directly the site of purchase to verify whether or not there’s an issue with your order. Do not investigate this through the e-mail message.

#6. Beware of skimming. Carefully observe employees whom you hand your credit card to for purchases. A crooked employee may scan the card to obtain your number.

#7. Always take the credit card receipt, no matter how small the purchase.

#8. If you think your identity has been stolen in regards to new account fraud then you need to step it up.

  • If you suspect fraud, contact Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to issue a fraud alert on your credit reports.
  • Pull your credit reports from these three bureaus to check for any suspicious accounts in your name. Check your credit reports again in six months.
  • Pull your credit reports for inspection (it’s free) every 12 months as a smart measure.
  • Get a credit freeze
  • Invest in identity theft protection.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing  identity theft prevention. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247. Disclosures.

Card Not Present Transaction Fraud can be stopped

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Credit card fraud, despite measures to stomp it out, still runs rampant in America. Forty-seven percent of credit card fraud consists of card-not-present (CNP) fraud. This includes payments via snail mail, phone and Internet.

2CThe U.S. is headed towards EMV (chip) card technology, notes Scott Zoldi in FICO’s Banking Analytics Blog. Though chip-based authentication technology may cause non-CNP fraud to decline, don’t count on this same effect for CNP fraud, adds Zoldi.

There’s light at the end of this tunnel, however. Attempts at card fraud have risen, but the average loss per compromised account dropped by 10 percent. The ratio has been the same for fraud to non-fraud spending. The volume of card fraud that has increased correlates to the volume of increase in shopping with credit cards in the first place, writes Zoldi.

How can you spot CNP fraud? Visa offers the following warning signs for this type of crime:

  • Orders consisting of several of the same product
  • Orders full of big-ticket merchandise
  • Transactions that have similar account numbers
  • Shipping that goes out to an international address
  • Transactions placed on several cards, but the shipping goes to a single address.
  • Multiple cards that are used from one IP address

Oregon-based security firm iovation can stop fraudsters and keep them out for good. Reputation Manager 360 goes beyond personally identifiable information (PII) to prevent fraud. By identifying the devices connecting to the retailers site and assessing their reputation, their service instantly gives businesses the full story about any card-not-present (CNP) transaction.

Robert Siciliano, personal security and identity theft expert contributor to iovation. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247

Watch Those Corporate Card Statements to Prevent Credit Card Scams

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Charges on corporate credit cards can often go unnoticed even when employees are submitting expense reports. Especially if the charges are small.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit describing a criminal enterprise responsible for “micro charges,” fraudulent charges ranging from 20 cents to $10, to as many as one million credit cards since approximately 2006. Because the amounts were low, most of the fraud went unnoticed by cardholders. Money mules were used to divert the funds to Eastern European countries. (“Money mules” are typically individuals who are recruited to assist in a criminal enterprise via help wanted advertisements on job placement websites. In this case, the mules believed they were applying to be financial services managers.) These mules opened numerous LLCs and bank accounts. They also set up websites with toll free numbers, creating an apparently legitimate web presence. Thanks to this facade, the websites were granted merchant status, allowing them to process credit card orders.

The victims of this credit card scam would see the fictional merchant’s name and toll free number on their credit card statements. If they attempted to dispute a charge, the toll free numbers would go to voicemail or be disconnected. Most frustrated consumers may not bother to take the additional step of disputing a 20 cent charge with the credit card company.

Victims of fraudulent credit card charges only wind up paying the unauthorized charges if they don’t detect and report the credit card fraud within 60 days. A 60 day window covers two billing cycles, which should be enough for most account-conscious consumers who keep an eye on their spending. During that time, you are covered by a “zero liability policy,” which was invented by credit card companies to reduce fears of online fraud. Under this policy, the cardholder may be responsible for up to $50.00 in charges, but most banks extend the coverage to charges under $50.00.

If you fail to recognize and dispute unauthorized transactions on your credit card statements, you take responsibility for the fraudulent charges. While 20 cents may not seem worth the bother, these seemingly minor charges are certainly funding criminal activity, and perhaps even terrorism. So to prevent credit card scams take the time to scrutinize those unauthorized credit card charges every single month.

Robert Siciliano personal and small business security specialist toADT Small Business Security discussingADT Pulse on Fox News. Disclosures

5 Sneaky Credit Card Scams

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#1 Phone Fraud. The phone rings, a scammer poses as your banks fraud department. They may have your entire card number stolen from another source. They ask about a charge made and you deny the charge, but in order for the charge to be removed, they need your 3-4 digits CVV number off the front or back of the card. A variation may be they only have the last 4 digits found on a receipt or statement you threw away. They can also use the same ruse to get the full 16 digits from you.

#2 Clever Clerk. You hand your card to a sales clerk, waiter or waitress and they have a card reading wedge device that looks like this. The device may be wrapped around a band on their ankle. They bend over and make it look like they are fixing a sock, once they swipe the card through, they can make charges on your card.

#3 The Loop. You’re at an ATM that isn’t cooperating. Some nice guy injects himself into the scene to help you. During the process he watches you enter your pin. After another attempt the ATM eats your card. After you leave all upset, he pulls the card from the ATMs card slot using a loop of VHS tape he jammed inside the machine.

#4 Risky Retailer. When searching for something on the web you come across a website with a great deal. In the process of ordering they inform you a discount is available along with a free trial of another product. Thinking you just made out on the deal you take the bait. Next thing you know your card is charged every month and the company makes it very difficult to cancel the charges.

#5 Cell Snap. While buying something at a store you swipe your card through the point of sale terminal. If you are using a debit card you also need to punch your PIN into the keypad. The guy one or two people behind you filmed the entire transaction including your PIN on his mobile phone.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams. Disclosures