If you do care about the security of your private financial information, that may be your credit history, portfolio or credit card numbers, you can protect yourself from criminals who always are determined to use this information in their own way. The theft can be as simple as someone stealing your credit card number and then charging merchandise to your account. A thief may also your name, date of birth, and SSN to take ownership of your credit card accounts, or even apply for new credit cards. Read more...

Practically all victims of identity theft don`t reveal this kind of crime for a year or even more. That may happen only after something goes really wrong, because smart thieves used to shield their actions by giving different address when they apply for credit card in a victim`s name. Typically, federal laws cover all losses to consumers, but even in common cases, it takes more than two years to clear victim`s names. Read more...

We recommend these tips to reduce your exposure to identity theft. Read more...

Try to do everything to protect your SSN (social security number). The SSN is a key to your good credit reputation and banking accounts and is the general aim of financial criminals. Read more...

What criminals do to perform fraudulent transactions? They steal credit card information from different bills, report new addresses, and request additional credit cards. They obtain personal data through Internet information brokers who steal it from voter registration rolls, tax records, public filings, etc. Criminals may also hack business sites to steal credit card information or restore it from discarded computer hard drives. Read more...

New measures must be developed to control the worldwide increase in credit card frauds, especially Internet fraud. These kind of thieves conceal their identities by using multiple hosts and networks to reach their victims. An effort of tracing them to their point of origin through multiple organizations and across multiple countries is the task of extreme difficulty. Main feature of online credit card fraud is a its facelessness when a thief does not have to be near or even know his victims. Read more...

A thief does not need a knife to rob you. All he needs to know is your name, address, social security number), and sometimes your date of birth and mother`s maiden name. He will never wait you in the dark corner but will open an account in your name or simply access your existing credit or debit accounts. In the cases, when a thief opens a new accounts on your name - he uses bogus addresses. All major CRAs switch your contact information over to the that fictive new address, and you will never know what`s going on until it will be late. Read more...

Unauthorized credit card use has been prevalent for many years. Until the mid-1980s, when the magnetic stripe data was not being swiped at the point-of-sale terminals, thieves were busy using stolen cards. Read more...

The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act determines it to be a federal crime when someone “knowingly transfers or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable state or local law.” An id thief steals some of your personal information and uses it without your knowledge and to open a credit card account in your name. Read more...

According to some prognosis - up to the year 2018, five billion smart cards will be issued by financial institutions in over 100 countries of the world covering up to 90 % of it`s population. The first generation of credit cards were cards with a magnetic stripe on it. That allowed to reduce processing costs and increased the security level. Adding a computer chip to the credit card making it a smart card was the next step in the credit cards security system progress. Right now smart cards are used mainly for telephones, transportation, healthcare, movies, fast food outlets, Internet and banking programs. Read more...

US bank system at last began issuing smart cards. This idea is not a new one - Europe used it for years. Germany, France, and UK used it for years as well. The advantage of chip-enhanced cards is in it`s ability to store more personal data, including passwords and purchasing habits. These cards are expected becom a world standard in few years. Read more...

Due to fact that no security features were introduced in the design of credit cards, consequently, in a short period of time, counterfeit credit cards that were an extremely good imitation of the genuine items were manufactured and being widely used all over the world. Read more...

Many banks that are the Issuers and Acquirers installed different fraud detection systems that determine according to special algorithms suspicious transactions on a cardholder accounts or a merchant premises as well. After detection banks have to take the necessary actions to investigate the suspicious transactions and confirm with the legal cardholder if these transactions were made by him. If the response from genuine cardholder is negative that means they`ve got a credit card fraud! Read more...

Countless opportunities for fraud are the consequence of the low security of the credit card system. It creates a huge black stolen credit cards numbers market, which generally are used before the cards are reported to be stolen. The goal of the credit card issuing companies is not to eliminate fraud, but to "reduce it to manageable levels", when the total cost of fraud and fraud prevention are minimized. Read more...

Four major problems may occur in the process of using a credit card: lost / stolen credit cards and identity theft, credit card billing problems, errors in credit statement, defective, damaged or undelivered goods purchased by credit card. Read more...

Be very careful why you do credit card transfers. Credit card fraud happens quite regularly, especially id theft. That is why you should be very careful using credit card information. Read more...

Some practical advices hot not to get into trouble while using your credit card: shopping online or in a real store with your credit card, ordering something over the phone. Read more...

After receiving your new credit card in the mail, issuing bank always asks to sign the back of your credit card. Some people refuse doing it, pointing out that if your card is stolen, a thief then has copy of your signature to duplicate. Read more...

It is easy for criminals to steal your identity and use fraudulent credit cards on unsecured websites. You must be sure that credit card statements are correctly destroyed as well as all other records that include your personal details. Read more...