When Target acknowledged last month that 70 million credit and debit card accounts had been exposed to theft, it was another stark reminder that any of us can become victims of fraud. Close to half a billion dollars is lost to credit-card fraud in Canada annually.
Here are five ways to limit your risk:
1. Answer your phone with suspicion Be wary of individuals who ring you out of the blue and ask you for personal information, including scammers who may pose as charities or financial institutions. Criminals who already have your credit card number may call you pretending to be the security or fraud department of your financial institution and ask you for the three or four digit security code on your credit card. Once they have that, they can make purchases either on the phone or the Internet. Read More…
It’s really quite astonishing that all these problems are occuring in such a short span with target, yahoo, and others all having breaches within the same week. No wonder my parents avoid the net.
The piece mentions that credit cards shouldnt be left unatended. But since cards have pin #s why is this a concern. Anyone who takes it cant actually use it. What am i missing?
The most common thing people get are strange emails. For me if i get any email asking for credentials or clicking a link to verify i never do.
Don’t forget people you can also check the headers to verify the emailer is signature verified. At least in gmail it works great!
I still think this is not really a problem in todays world since most of our fiances are secure through CIDC.
No matter what people do and the precautions there are always going to be ways to circumvent them. The best course is to limit your risk by carrying only what you need each time.
I find that most people carry way too much and stuff they never need. My partner has so much it takes 2 bags. Ugh!
Yea this article cant be read enough. I had the same issue when i started getting unusal calls with the caller ID saying unknown. I then found out my bank had some issues and didn’t inform me and maybe this was the reason.
So is Apple iPhone or Android phones safer?