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21 ways to Prepare your Credit Cards for Overseas Travel

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Imagine being overseas, and in the process of using your credit card to make a purchase—and it’s declined—and you have no currency or checkbook. Nightmare.

2CThe decline could be to prevent fraudulent use; perhaps it was recently reported lost, but then found or the country you are in is known for fraud. To clear this up, you must call the card company and tell them that the purchase you want to make is legitimate.

Realize that the card issuer cannot allow more transactions until they verify that the attempted charge is valid.

Prior to travel as well as during, there are things you should do to minimize the problem of declined charges.

  1. Make sure your cell phone is set up for international use so you don’t miss a call from your card issuer.
  2. Make sure all your cards are signed.
  3. Before leaving, notify your card company that you’ll be traveling overseas; this way they can monitor your transactions.
  4. Before leaving, make sure your debit and gift cards are authorized for international use with merchants and ATMs.
  5. Bring with you the phone numbers for all of your cards. This includes non-800 numbers.
  6. Make sure you know whether or not your cards come with a foreign transaction fee.
  7. Have all the card numbers documented.
  8. Get a chip-and-pin card from your card company and bank. Chip and PIN is most prevalent outside the USA.
  9. See to it that your card won’t be overdrawn while you’re traveling. Consider any auto drafts that can inflate the balance.
  10. Have your PIN memorized.
  11. If you plan on cash advances from an ATM, makes sure to have a PIN enabled for your card.
  12. Don’t have the card company contact you by SMS text messaging if you don’t have an international data plan. Or just get a data plan. Make sure the company has a working cell phone number and e-mail address.
  13. Enable the feature, in your account settings, that yields an alert (e-mail or text) every time you pay with the card.
  14. Install your bank or credit card companies mobile app to alert you of any approval issues or potential fraud
  15. Don’t let a service person, like at a restaurant, leave your table with your card to swipe it. Go with them if needed. This may not always be possible.
  16. Always review your receipts against your card statements to make sure there are no duplicate charges.
  17. Check your accounts online when you travel to reconcile all account activity. Do this from a device you have control over opposed to a hotel or business center PC.
  18. If your billing ZIP code is required, make sure you carefully punch it into the keypad. If more than one invalid entry is made, the card can be disabled.
  19. If someone calls and tells you that your card has been suspended due to fraud, and they ask for your credit card number, address or SSN, consider this a scam. The card issuer will not likely want personal information, and instead will want you to confirm past transactions.
  20. Whenever using free public WiFi have Hotspot Shield installed on your wireless device to prevent data snooping and encrypt your wireless data.
  21. A fraud-hold on your card cannot be cleared until you contact the card company or bank to straighten things out. Make sure you know what the phone dialing patterns are for the country you plan on visiting—before you embark on the travel.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. 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 booming

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Online credit card fraud is flourishing, according to the U.S. Retail Fraud Survey 2014. One of the reasons is because online sales are ever on the increase, currently accounting for 6 percent of total sales, says the report, the most extensive of its kind. The projection is that within three years, retailers will be getting 15 percent of their sales online.

2CThe survey was carried out between April and May of 2014, and dealt with primary research into the processes, systems and strategies that were used by 100 of the U.S.’s leading retailers, representing 126,000 stores in the U.S.

The loss prevention manager or director for each retailer went through a detailed interview. Also interviewed was the e-commerce manager or director (if the loss prevention leader wasn’t available) regarding their prevention tactics for online fraud.

The survey has a few changes this year. Only the retailers who participated can see the detailed results. Plus, the report has an anonymous portion to help with quality and availability of the most critical data. These tweaks will assist retailers with their war against fraud.

Online fraud is higher on everyone’s radar due to so many high profile hacks. In fact, the study indicates that spending on online fraud prevention has gone up by 50 percent. Though this is good news, it hardly crushes the reality that credit card fraud continues to demonize retailers, requiring detection, prevention and management.

Protect your data:

  • Maintaining updated operating systems, including critical security patches
  • Installing and running antivirus, antispyware and antiphising software and a firewall
  • Keeping browsers updated with the latest version
  • Updating all system software, including Java and Adobe
  • Locking down wireless Internet with encryption
  • Setting up administrative rights and restricting software, such as peer-to-peer file sharing, from being installed without rights
  • Utilizing filtering that controls who has access to what kind of data
  • Utilizing Internet filters to block access to restricted sites that may allow employees or hackers to upload data to Cloud-based storage
  • Possible disabling or removing USB ports to prevent the downloading of malicious data
  • Incorporating strict password policies
  • Encrypting files, folders and entire drives

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 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.

10 Credit Score Truths and Myths

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If your personal information gets compromised, a thief will open up financial accounts in your name. However, they will not pay the bills, and this will ruin your credit.

2CWhether bad credit results from the legitimate credit holder’s irresponsibility or from identity theft, your ability to buy a car, rent a nice place, purchase a home or even get employment can be severely stifled.

1. Credit reports aren’t always accurate. Most have a big error or mistake: 80 percent, actually. Regularly check your credit report.

2. Pulling your credit score will lower it. A “soft” pull is done yourself for personal reasons; it will have zero effect. A “hard inquiry” is when a lender pulls it up for loan approval. It will have a negative impact, but small.

3. A higher income = higher credit score. Income is not relevant to credit score; paying bills on time (or not) is what matters.

4. Credit scores and credit reports are the same. The three big credit reports are Equifax, Experian and Transunion. But there are too many various calculations of credit score to even list here. What matters is your credit managing skills and making sure all 3 large credit bureaus have similar information and scores.

5. Debt settlement removes debt from your credit report. But debt settlement doesn’t fix bad credit. Late payments, bad information and other smears remain for up to seven years following the first “infraction” date.

6. Cash-only payments will improve credit score. You can’t build good credit unless you use credit—and wisely. Get a couple small loans or credit cards and pay them off as you use them.

7. Improve your credit score by closing your credit card accounts. Closing a card lowers your amount of disposable income: the ability to pay off other debt. You don’t want to lower “credit utilization” by closing out a card.

8. Smart management of your various banking accounts will reflect in your credit score. These are not reported to credit bureaus and thus have no impact.

9. Dispute accurate (but negative) information to remove it from your credit report. You can dispute only mistakes. A valid dispute will result in deletion of inaccurate information. A dispute of negative, but accurate, information will achieve nothing.

10. Missed payments that aren’t reported to credit bureaus won’t affect credit score. Any missed or late payment can be reported to a credit bureau.

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.

Older Technologies Facilitate Credit Card Fraud

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America the Superpower is also the super choice for criminals wanting to steal credit card information. Security experts warn that this problem will get worse before it improves.

1CThat ancient technology of the magnetic strip on the back of credit and debit cards is a godsend to criminals. The easy-to-copy band stores account information using a technology the same as that of cassette tapes. U.S. credit card technology has not kept up with fraudsters. One challenge facing the industry is that it is very expensive for companies to upgrade their credit card security.

When a card is swiped, the strip allows communication between the retailer’s bank and the customer’s bank: 1.4 seconds. That’s enough time for the network to record the cardholder’s information on computers controlled by the payment processing companies.

Hackers can snatch account data (including security codes) as it crosses the network or steal it from databases. Though the security code is required for most online purchases, thieves don’t care as long as the magnetic strips are easily reproducible and placed on fake cards—which they then use for purchases or sell the card data online. Three bucks will get you a fraudulent card with limited customer information and a low balance.

You’ll have to wait at least until the fall of 2015 for U.S. credit card companies to ditch the magnetic strips for digital chips. Retailers want more: each transaction to require a PIN rather than signature.

What can retailers do in the meantime?

  • Internet-based payment systems should be protected from hackers with strong firewalls.
  • Data should be encrypted, so that hackers see gibberish.

This may be easier said than done, because implementing these safeguards isn’t cheap. The U.S. lags behind most other nations when it comes to credit and debit cards; most countries’ cards use the digital chips that contain account information.

Every time the card is used, the chip generates a code that’s unique. This makes it a lot harder for criminals to duplicate the cards—so difficult, in fact, that usually they don’t even bother trying to replicate them. It would really be great if the U.S. could catch on to this technology.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to AllClear ID. 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.

EMV Will Help Retailers Prevent Credit Card Fraud

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EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, refers to the chip and PIN credit card technology commonly used in Europe and elsewhere around the world. Credit cards that incorporate an embedded microprocessor chip are far more secure than any other form of credit card currently available, including the standard magnetic striped cards that are all too easy to skim at ATMs and point of sale terminals.

Major banks and retailers are now pushing very hard to make EMV the new standard in the United States. Implementation should occur in 2015, Visa announced plans to expand their Technology Innovation Program to the U.S., which will encourage retailers to support cards with microchips by “[eliminating] the requirement for eligible merchants to annually validate their compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard for any year in which at least 75% of the merchant’s Visa transactions originate from chip-enabled terminals.” This will go into effect October 1, 2012 for merchants whose point-of-sale terminals accept both contact and contactless chips.

PCMag reported MasterCard followed Visa’s lead stating that it too intends to move U.S. consumers onto so-called chip-and-PIN technology. MasterCard, like Visa, also said that it is preparing for a world where consumers will pay in stores, online, and via mobile devices.

Another method of credit card fraud prevention is device reputation technology. It works to prevent all types of fraud and abuse on the Internet, including account takeovers, which occurs when your existing bank or credit card accounts are infiltrated and money is siphoned out. Iovation the leader in device reputation helps prevent new account fraud, which refers to financial identity theft in which the victim’s personal identifying information and good credit standing are used to create new accounts, which are then used to obtain products and services. Stolen Social Security numbers are often used to commit new account fraud.

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.

The 4 Types of Credit Card Disputes

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Love’m my credit cards. I get points, mileage and one place to view all my spending. Who doesn’t love that!

But I hate having to go through the misery of disputing charges. In my own research, I’ve determined four types of credit card disputes to look out for.

Unauthorized use: Basically, this is fraud—unauthorized use of your card when someone steals the card, skims the card, copies the number, hacks the number or double charges on purpose. Under federal law, you are responsible for up to $50 as long as you refute charges within 60 days with your credit card company. If it happens to you: Contact your credit card company ASAP and begin the resolution process. BillGuard can also help you open a dispute, at no cost to you. Just click the red button on your BillGuard Scan Report.

Disputes on dollar amounts: Mistakes happen. But I often find they don’t happen in my favor. They seem to always happen in the merchant’s favor. Funny how it works out like that, huh?

You might be billed incorrectly for products or services you didn’t purchase, charged for products you ordered but didn’t get, or be overcharged. (For the record, I don’t think I’ve ever been “undercharged.”).  If it happens to you: Contact the merchant ASAP and go through the merchant’s process for resolution. Don’t want to deal with the hassle? BillGuard will handle the dispute for you, for free.

Problems with products or services: Sometimes it’s a quality issue: products break within 30 days, are delivered broken, or the merchant fails to provide services requested. If it happens to you: Contact the merchant ASAP. If the merchant is uncooperative, contact BillGuard.

Grey charges:Grey charges are often charges that, in a roundabout way (that is, in the fine print), we agreed to by purchasing products or services. A grey charge may include mysterious subscriptions, automatic renewals, free products that result in paid products or cost creep. The initial purchase may be pennies, but over time ends up costing big dollars. If it happens to you: Flag the charge on your BillGuard Scan Report. We’ll help you open a dispute.

Here’s how to reduce your aggravation when it comes to credit card disputes:

  • Always reconcile your bills diligently and on a timely basis.
  • Refute unauthorized charges immediately—within one to two billing cycles.
  • Use a credit card instead of a debit card, as credit cards offer more consumer protection.
  • Be patient—and be nice—when talking to customer support. Don’t yell like you’re some crazy Italian. (Disclosure: I am that crazy Italian.) Trust me. It usually doesn’t work.
  • Use BillGuard to watch your back and help you resolve unwanted charges.

Robert Siciliano is a personal security expert & advisor to BillGuard and 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.

Steamy Sexts Get Leaked 60% of the Time

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McAfee released the study Love, Relationships, and Technology: When Private Data Gets Stuck in the Middle of a Breakup, which examines at the pitfalls of sharing personal data in relationships and discloses how breakups can lead to exposure of private data.

Nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners have personal and intimate information (such as revealing photos, bank account information, passwords, and credit cards) on their mobile devices, yet only 40% have password protection on their devices, leaving a huge gap in personal data protection.

The study shows that 94% of Americans believe their data and revealing photos are safe in the hands of their partners. However, 28% of people regretted sending that personal information and 10% of people have been threatened by their exes that they would expose risqué photos online.

Breakups are rarely, if ever, feel good events left on good terms. But we don’t have to make them worse by potentially having our private data open to being exposed for all to see.

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To make sure you keep your private date private, you should follow these tips:

Don’t share your passwords

Make sure you have lock devices (especially your mobile) with a PIN

Delete any intimate photos/videos on your mobile device

Don’t share photos or videos that you don’t want your grandma seeing

If you’ve shared passwords, change them immediately

Remember the adage that whatever you post online is there forever

Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Expert to McAfee. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked!  Disclosures.

1 in 4 Report Being a Victim of Card Fraud

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The 2012 Global Card Fraud Survey by ACI Worldwide represents the insights and opinions of more than 5200 card holders from 17 countries and focuses exclusively on the impact to the card holder and their state of mind. Residents of Mexico and the United States reported the highest rate of card fraud experience. Some of the survey’s other key findings include:

  • Financial Institutions are running the risk of losing customers due to fraud, either directly, or through a decreased use of their cards.
  • Consumers report they fear identity theft most and would like to be notified immediately by banks of any potential fraud. They would like to be kept informed of the progress of any fraud disputes.
  • While fearing identity theft consumers are also demonstrating continued risky behaviors such as writing down personal identification numbers (PIN), failing to destroy personal documents and sharing credit card data on electronic devices lacking security software.
  • Consumers also shared their thoughts regarding what types of transactions they trust most and who they most trust in the event of fraud happening.

Financial Institutions have to comply with additional regulations including recommendation from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). That includes sophisticated methods of identifying devices and knowing their reputation (past and current behavior and other devices they are associated with) the moment they touch the banking website.

Protect yourself from card fraud by paying attention to your statements every month and refute unauthorized charges immediately. I check my charges online once every two weeks. If I’m traveling extensively, especially out of the country, I let the credit card company know ahead of time, so they won’t shut down my card while I’m on the road.

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.