Identity fraud is a big concern for many people. But taking a few simple steps can make your current account very secure.
Identity fraud and bank card fraud are legitimate risks, but don't let fear of bank account fraud put you off switching to an online current account. A few precautionary measures can keep you and your bank account reasonably safe.
An easy way to protect yourself
If you're anywhere near a photocopier at the moment, take out all the plastic cards in your wallet/purse, lay them face down on the glass and copy them front and back. Hide the resulting bits of paper in a safe place at home so you have an instant reference to numbers and sort-codes if they ever get lost or stolen.
In fact, if you want to be extra efficient, you could also print off the list of emergency contact numbers for lost or stolen credit cards from the Cardholders section of the Cardwatch website.
The fact is, bank and credit card and identity fraud is big business these days and you can get caught out in several different ways:
Counterfeit cards
These are often produced by a practice known as skimming which you can fall victim to if you let your card out of sight when paying a bill. (Handing your card over at the end of a meal in a restaurant or, worse, leaving your card behind the bar when you're treating friends to an evening is a cardinal sin!) A dishonest cashier could secretly copy the magnetic strip by swiping it through a special card reader so the information can be used to make a counterfeit card that is ripe for a spending spree.
Lost or stolen cards
Using a lost or stolen card should become more difficult with the advent of the CHIP & PIN method of paying with plastic. Instead of the fraudster being able to copy your signature they have to know your four-digit Personal Identification Number in order to make purchases in person. To that end, make sure when keying in your number that the people behind you are standing well back so they can't see which keys you're pressing.
'Card not present' fraud
What do you do with your unwanted receipts? If you have a tendency to just chuck them in the bin then you could be making it jolly easy for a fraudster to rifle through the dustbin and go on a spending spree with the credit card details they find. Unfortunately some bank card receipts carry rather too much information and a collection of them could, between them, contain all the details necessary for an opportunist thief to go shopping for DVDs at Amazon.
Identity theft/fraud
Identity theft is the 'misappropriation of the identity of another person'. In other words, someone impersonates you for whatever reason - usually to obtain goods and services in your name. This often affects your credit rating and can result in you being turned down for a loan or credit card or even a mortgage. (Strangely, this isn't actually a crime in the UK at the moment although the Government is considering making it one).
It only becomes a crime when that identity is actually used to obtain goods and services by deception at which point it becomes known as identity fraud. Again, this can arise because of the sort of information you put in your dustbin. So:
- keep your card in sight at all times when making a transaction;
- dispose of unwanted bank statements, utility bills and receipts carefully - preferably by shredding them;
- check statements for unfamiliar transactions;
- report missing cards immediately; and
- be wary of people standing too close behind you when using a cash machine or a CHIP & PIN key pad in stores.
At the moment it's the issuers of plastic bank cards rather than individual cardholders who bear the initial cost of fraudulent use. Your maximum liability on credit, debit, and bank-issued charge cards is £50 for fraudulent transactions made before the issuer is notified and, in most cases, issuers waive even this small liability.
Obviously your liability is unlimited if you've been grossly negligent such as writing your PIN on the card or if you've played a part in the fraud yourself but an innocent person who gets his cards nicked is not liable for the money that's spent on it by a thief.
And finally, apart from the various kinds of identity and card fraud, you also need to be aware of the 'phishing' type of fraud that arrives by email. The word was coined by hackers who have developed lookalike websites of banks in an effort to trick you into parting with your account numbers and passwords.
The key bit of advice is to realise that banks will never ask for personal financial details via email so be very wary if you get an email that purports to be from your bank requesting such information. If you're asked for information via email then always go directly to the company's website by typing the URL into the address box - don't click on the link within the email in case it takes you to a fake lookalike site.
And, when dealing with financial information or transactions over the internet, always make sure that you can see the little padlock in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen and that there is an 's' after the http in the address (https) which indicates that the site is secure.
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