If you've been watching the media recently you may have seen a number of stories about credit card fraud. One high profile case was the 2008 Beijing Olympic games ticketing scams. A number of websites including beijingticketing.com were set up to look like official ticket resellers and claimed to have offices in several US cities. Some people spent tens of thousands on tickets for the games using their credit card only to be left ticketless and massively out of pocket when they discovered it was a scam. While this might scare you about shopping online or using your credit card the reality is most credit card fraud cases are one offs and committed by people you know! Find out how to make sure your not a victim.



The biggest step you can take toward your own credit security is to pay attention. Do you know when your monthly statements arrive? If not, find out. One very common trick is for a thief to change the statement address to something other than your home, and then start charging. You don't know anything's amiss because you're not getting the statement. And if you don't even know when it's supposed to arrive, you're just setting yourself up for trouble. Read your statement when it comes and immediately report anything suspicious to your bank or lender.

Online security is important, too. Never access even a trusted website from a link in an unsolicited e-mail. These can be "mirror" sites set up to look identical to a trusted merchant's, but in reality nothing more than data-mining sites that will take your credit card information and run with it. Go to a website through a Favorite or by typing the website manually into the address bar in your browser.

A secure website will often begin with "https" rather than the standard "http". You'll often see a small icon that looks like a padlock down near the bottom of your browser window—though even those can be faked these days. When you're done shopping, close your browser window down completely. And consider cleaning out your browsing history on a regular basis. In Windows, this can be done via Tools, then Internet Options. In the General tab, click Delete in the Browsing History section to eliminate the addresses of recently-visited websites.

The golden rule to remember is under no circumstances should you reply to an unsolicited e-mail or phone call that asks for personal information. Banks and other merchants never request this information—remember, they should already have it on hand.

Protect your Personally Identifiable Information, or PII. NEVER give out your Social Security Number to an unsolicited phone call! If someone is asking for personal information and you didn't call them you should hang up immediately.

You should contact your credit card issuer the moment you think you may be a fraud victim. Their number should be on your statement (which you've been checking every month of course?), but it's a good idea to keep it in your address book, Day Planner, or PDA, as well. The card issuer should immediately close the account and transfer all legitimate charges to a new card with a new number. You will likely have some forms to fill out. Make sure you take the time to complete and return the forms as the information you provide can be a huge help in helping the police and fraud investigation team from your card issuer to track down the thief and secure a prosecution.

Keep your card in a safe location (your wallet is generally a bad idea), never give out your PIN number or write it on the card, and check your statements every months. With a few simple precautions you can greatly reduce your risk of becoming a victim of credit card fraud.