Avoiding Credit and Charge Card Fraud

[kb9tbq]

Avoiding Credit and Charge Card Fraud

A thief goes through trash to find discarded receipts or carbons, and then uses your account numbers illegally.

A dishonest clerk makes an extra imprint from your credit or charge card and uses it to make personal charges.

You respond to a mailing asking you to call a long distance number for a free trip or bargain-priced travel package. You're told you must join a travel club first and you're asked for your account number so you can be billed. The catch! Charges you didn't make are added to your bill, and you never get your trip.


Credit and charge card fraud costs cardholders and issuers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. While theft is the most obvious form of fraud, it can occur in other ways. For example, someone may use your card number without your knowledge.

It's not always possible to prevent credit or charge card fraud from happening. But there are a few steps you can take to make it more difficult for a crook to capture your card or card numbers and minimize the possibility.

Guarding Against Fraud

Here are some tips to help protect yourself from credit and charge card fraud.

Do:

Sign your cards as soon as they arrive.
Carry your cards separately from your wallet, in a zippered compartment, a business card holder, or another small pouch.
Keep a record of your account numbers, their expiration dates, and the phone number and address of each company in a secure place.
Keep an eye on your card during the transaction, and get it back as quickly as possible.
Void incorrect receipts.
Destroy carbons.
Save receipts to compare with billing statements.
Open bills promptly and reconcile accounts monthly, just as you would your checking account.
Report any questionable charges promptly and in writing to the card issuer.
Notify card companies in advance of a change in address.

Don't:

Lend your card(s) to anyone.
Leave cards or receipts lying around.
Sign a blank receipt. When you sign a receipt, draw a line through any blank spaces above the total.
Write your account number on a postcard or the outside of an envelope.
Give out your account number over the phone unless you're making the call to a company you know is reputable. If you have questions about a company, check it out with your local consumer protection office or Better Business Bureau.

[sisflomi]

I thought you should mark cards with SEE ID instead of signing them.

[kb9tbq]

I have heard this talked about... but your best protection is to sign the back no matter what.. I have done just that signed / and wrote see ID.

Reason is... that if the card was to be recovered and someone else signed then they could claim that that was your signature... you would have a real fight proving otherwise. Do you know not many places allow for a handwriting expert to come in and testify on these matters... especially on signed plastic over paper. But if you can get an expert to testify... you are looking at a cost of better then $500 per day in court to get their services!!!

But I have only seen but one or two people even catch it on the back to ask to see ID... people these days don't want to take the time to look and check on these things!

Could make a habit to take the time to point the oversight to them and teach them what they are obviously missing on this part. Even explain to them why they must be on this to always check! Just point out that they should expect the same of someone else scanning their credit cards!

[credit_on_mars]

Returning to normal from ID theft can be a long process. I went to court twice for two credit cards that were not mine and bet them both times. It is not all that hard to convince a judge that an account is not yours, especially when you have positive proof. In both cases I demonstrated that the credit application was in error, i.e., signatures foraged and not close to my wife or my signature, our last name and my mother’s maiden name was misspelled and other minor errors that pointed to forgery. I still have a couple CA’s calling about every month for similar stolen accounts but I never answer. We had caller-ID and Sprint-Privacy so no one can get through without us seeing who it is. Of course, I sent the usual DV’s and other threatening letters, but in each case the CA either passed it along to some other location in their covey of wi-tCA-tes, or sold the bogus account to some other idiot.

In some cases these CA’s never seem to get it or give up, even after decades of SOL, etc. My credit report is not great but I would not have any problem getting money or a loan if I needed one. You see, I planned for my retirement and invested. I own my home, car, and owe not one soul one red penny. Someone using my name does however!

[erik]

I thought you should mark cards with SEE ID instead of signing them.

I don't know who started the "SEE ID" thing. I really don't understand the point of it. I used to work in retail sales and I checked the back of every credit card for a signature. If I found a SEE ID, the only way that card could be used would be if you had a drivers license that said your name was SEE ID. Another strange practice was not signing the card. I rejected a lot of purchases for that practice to.

A good practice is to make your signature unique and somewhat illegible. There are no rules that say that people are supposed to be able to reed your signature. A signature is basically a pattern that is unique to the writer.