Tips to Prevent Credit Card Frauds

As an aware and responsible consumer, it is our responsibility to be aware and spread awareness in order to prevent credit card fraud. Credit card are one of the most widely used financial tools in the 21^st century and have made way to almost every pocket in the UAE. If you are concerned about the safety and reliability of transactions made via credit cards, you are just at the right place. In this thread, we’ll shed light on some of the most crucial tips that will help you to prevent credit card frauds in the UAE.

Complete the Transaction

While using your credit card it is extremely crucial to ensure that the transaction is completed successfully in front of you and the merchant is not left with any of your confidential banking or card details. Furthermore, an important point to be taken into consideration here is that cardholders should never provide xerox copies of both sides of the card to anybody as it might be used to initiate fraudulent transactions. The back of the card contains a three-digit (CVV) number which is a necessary requirement to complete online transactions via credit cards, hence one should be very careful while providing card related information to anybody.

Don’t Share the Expiration Date and CVV of your Card

As mentioned in the first point cardholders should never share the expiration date and CVV number of their credit card with anybody. Both of the details are integral to complete online transactions via credit cards, without the CVV no online payments can proceed. The CVV and expiration date of the credit card allows users to initiate and complete online transactions that might land the cardholder into great trouble.

Use Trustworthy and Secured Websites

The majority of credit card users use their credit cards to make numerous online payments without realizing the worthiness and reliability of the websites. The internet is a huge network and includes several websites that use credit card details of cardholders to carry out fraudulent transactions. Before entering and proceeding with credit card information on any website it is vital to check the reliability and security of the website. One can verify the reliability and worthiness of a website by checking that the payment gateway is secured via authentication agencies like Verisign or paysecure.

Never Save or Share Your Credit Card Information

One of the most common mistakes that lead to fraudulent credit card transactions in the UAE is saving confidential credit card information on the web. People usually tend to do it as it is convenient and saves time since cardholder is not to supposed to enter the credit card information manually every time while making transactions. In order to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of the data, it is crucial to avoid saving details online on websites.

Report Stolen Cards as Soon as Possible

Credit cards are small plastic cards and very often subject to loss or theft. In case you come across such a scenario where your card is lost, stolen or misplaced you should inform your bank as soon as possible to prevent any misuse of your card. Most of the banks these days have 24x7 customer support helplines which can be used to report stolen, lost or misplaced credit cards. Apart from reporting the loss of card, it is critical to continuously track the credit card statement to identify any fraudulent transactions. If you come across any such transactions inform your bank immediately about it.

Review Your Credit Card Statements Monthly

Unsanctioned charges on your credit card are the first signs of credit card fraudulency. In order to track unauthorized transactions on your credit cards, it is important to regularly review the statements of your credit cards. If you come across any unsanctioned transaction on your credit card statement report the transaction immediately to your credit card provider and the financial institution.

Make Strong PINs and Keep them Safe

As mentioned earlier, credit card details are often auto-saved on numerous platforms which increases the probability of fraudulent transactions. To ensure your credit card is not misused by scammers it is important to set up strong passwords with an effective combination of special characters, upper case, lower case characters, and numbers. Furthermore, another useful tip here to prevent your credit card from fraudulent transactions is to avoid writing or saving your PIN on digital platforms.

Conclusion

Credit cards are truly a modern-day marvel that have completely revolutionized the way people tend to spend money in today’s era. Credit cards are one of the easiest and most user-friendly ways of availing credit that have made an irreplaceable place in our day to day lives. However, it is very important to use these cards responsibly in order to avoid falling prey to any credit card fraud.