The credit card fraud can hit you in number of ways.

• It can be Skimming, where your credit card information is manually copied by a fraudulent employee of a pub or a restaurant.
• It can be an “Identity theft fraud”, facilitated by the financial documents (ATM transaction slips, bank statements etc) dugout from the garbage.
• It can be by a hacker, hacked in to a merchant’s database.
• They can use a key logger to steal all the important information you type on your PC.
• They can copy the magnetic strip of your card obtrusively, and if they know your PIN number, with that “cloned” card, they can withdraw money from the ATM.
• It can be a mail-not-receipt fraud where your card is lost during the transit from the bank.

Among all the types, Card Not Present (CNP) fraud is most admired by the fraudsters as neither the customer nor the merchant are present at that time. When the card is not present, it’s hard to determine the genuineness of the transaction as the physical security features of the card are not visible. If fraudsters gain access to your personal information along with the credit card details, they can call the bank and change the billing address to receive goods or services in your name.

Receipts and bills don’t have CVV code which is a must to transact, so usually fraudsters get card details from phishing, hacking in to merchant’s database where complete information is stored including CVV the 3 digit code (Visa and Master cards), 4 digit code (AMEX cards) or from a key logger installed. The bad news is that you are completely unaware about the fraud until you receive your statement, just to weep over the burnt leaves.

Identify Credit card Fraud

In order to prevent credit card fraud or even the identity fraud, check for some signals, which can take you a long way in preventing the scam. It can be:

• Some transactions that appear in your statement but you feel that you never made them
• Instances when you receive a telephone call or letter saying you have been approved or denied credit for accounts you know nothing about, or you receive a credit card statement for an account that you never opened
• Instances when the credit card details have been shared to an unknown or suspected person
• Instances when the documents containing the information of your credit cards have been stolen etc.

Instances like the above will open doors for the possible credit card scams. As mentioned earlier, the tragic factor about the credit card fraud is that neither the customer nor the merchant would be aware of the fraudulent transactions and you would realize only after the damage is done.

Luckily, online credit card fraud can be prevented by a little care and observation.

Always check your bank statements for any suspicious transactions
Shred the financial documents with care
Do not store your credit card information on the computer
Do not write the PIN number down.
Never delay to report a lost credit card as the repercussions can be highly disastrous.
Close the account that you suspect is being hit by the fraud.
Thoroughly check the authenticity of the firm, the website, or any other transactional company     where your money would be flowing through.
Check that the Internet connection you are using is secure. Look for the lock at the bottom or https    (an‘s’ appended to ‘http’) in the address field of your browser. These indicate that the connection is     a secure one
Never give away your personal information over the phone unless you are sure of the person the     other end.
Take a pause before venturing into any kind of online transaction and decide upon the authenticity     of the transaction.

Credit card transactions in other words on-line shopping is simple, fun and can be secure if you follow the above precautions.