Nigerian Embassy Article

Internet Scams: Fraudulent Credit Card Charges

It is sad but true, if you have a credit card, especially one that you use online, you are very likely to have to deal with fraudulent charges at some point or other. Some people get their credit card statements, look at their payment due date and amount, and toss them in the trash, without ever looking at the transactions that posted to the account. Those people are easy targets, as a scammer could charge their account numerous times before they would ever even realize it was occurring. If you don’t catch those charges within a certain time frame, usually 90 days, some credit card companies will make it very difficult for you to dispute those charges and have them removed, so it is extremely important to keep ahead of the game in this situation.

There are some things that you can do that will help protect you from credit card scammers, but there is still no guarantee that they will be enough. One of the simplest things to do, which many people neglect, is to guard your credit card account numbers, and expiration dates carefully. If you have mail that has any of that information on it, you should shred it before throwing it away, and never write that information down, or store it on your computer. Anyone who has your full credit card account number and the expiration dates can very easily post charges to your account online and thousands of scammers do it everyday.

If you are one of those people who don’t keep up with your credit card receipts, and find them in your car months later, make certain that you don’t just toss them into the garbage, especially if they have your full account number and expiration dates on them somewhere. Scammers have learned that they can hit the jackpot by going through garbage, so think twice before you start throwing things away.

When you are making purchases online using your credit or debit card, make certain that you are always at a secure connection, meaning that the address starts with https, rather than http. You also want to make certain that the site has security features in place to help protect your information, such as encryption, which you can find listed somewhere on the website.

Many credit card companies allow customers to view their transactions online as they occur, if you have this feature, you should take advantage of it. This is a great way to verify that the charges occurring on your account are the ones that you have made, and if you see a suspicious charge, call the credit card company right away to have a freeze placed on the account, and the suspicious charges disputed right away. As stated before, some credit card companies are not your friend when it comes to being scammed, so make certain that you keep records and notes of whom you speak with, and the conversations that go on. You may even have to file a police report, and then send that information to the credit card company before unauthorized charges ever get removed, so don’t be surprised if it happens to you.

Remember, when it comes to using credit cards, while they can be extremely handy, they can also be a great way for you to be taken by scammers, and have your credit and financial standing impacted. As long as you aware of credit card scams, and follow basic precautions, you should be safe, just don’t let your guard down.