Some consumers are overly paranoid about credit card fraud. By all means, it’s a real concern and one that all cardholders should take seriously. But I’m talking about the ones who refuse to ever make a purchase online because they assume that means someone can get their credit card information (or having similar habits). read more..

Online thieves steal $115 billion each year. They snitch information from Internet banking and social networking sites, utilising whatever means it takes to obtain the data they seek. If that means exploiting the Haiti earthquake victims, then that’s what they do.

Here are the four most popular methods of stealing online personal data.
read more..

Are a cautious consumer? Do you protect your credit card information carefully? If not, you might someday find yourself the victim of a credit card scam. Today let’s talk about the types of credit card scams that target you — the cardholder.

Here are three common credit card scams that can lead to identity theft or fraud and tips on protecting yourself (and your credit cards):
read more..

If your credit card offers a personal identification number (PIN), it’s for your protection. While signatures can be forged, having a PIN attached to a credit card means someone needs to know your “secret code” in order to use it for certain kinds of purchases. Do you protect your PIN?

There are certain situations where it’s a good idea to change your PIN. How often do you do it? For most people the answer is probably “not enough.” Here are three scenarios where you should definitely change your credit card’s PIN:
read more..

Perhaps driven by the tough economy, payment fraud jumped almost 30% in the first six months of 2009, with most of the increase occurring online.

Figures recently released by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) show that fraud, in the use of credit and debit cards and cheques, rose from seven cents per thousand dollars to nine cents. Most of that jump occurred in payment scenarios where the credit card was not present, such as telephone purchases or those made online, which saw the largest percentage gain of all. read more..