NFO TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST CREDIT CARD FRAUD

1. Take immediate action if you notice one of your cards is missing. Contact your credit provider and report your lost card as soon as possible to prevent any fraudulent activity. Your bank or credit card company will deactivate the card and replace it with a new one.
2. Check your card and bank statements for signs of fraud monthly, and preferably more often, especially for purchases you don’t remember making yourself.
3. Check your credit score routinely for sudden changes or patterns that appear unusual. These changes may indicate fraudulent activity. Contact your credit provider immediately if you are suspicious of such one-offs or patterns.
4. Never share your private credit information especially your PIN and passwords. Also, don’t use simple passwords that people can easily guess.
5. Don’t leave your sensitive financial documents lying around your workplace or even at home in plain sight. Don’t just throw old intact statements and documents away either. Rather shred them or cut them up before you do.
6. Avoid carrying all your cards around when you leave home or go shopping. If you lose or have all your cards stolen all at once, you will at the least be very inconvenienced, or defrauded at worst. Only leave home with the card/s you really need, and keep your other cards in a safe place at home.
7. Phishing scams in emails, phone calls, or texts are increasingly common. NFO constantly monitors all of the latest scams – check our website regularly for these.
8. Be on the lookout for card skimmers who try to read your card information using fraudulent, malicious card readers. If the card reading device looks in any way suspicious, don’t use it.
9. Avoid making all your purchases with the same card if possible. Rather split costs between different cards – use one card when out in public, and another for online purchases at home, for example.
10. Free public Wi-Fi is a great amenity for surfing the web on your mobile device, but typically is not as secure as your home or office network. Avoid making credit card purchases or other bank transactions via public Wi-Fi if you’re not 100% sure of its security.
11. For added security, make it a habit to regularly change or update your passwords and PINs.