Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft Crimes

I’ve worked as a waiter, a bartender, a cashier, and several other positions in which money is handled and exchanged many times during a work shift. I remember twenty years ago at least half if not most small transactions were handled with cash. This was especially true of the younger crowd who hadn’t become quite so dependent on a bank or credit card. With the ease of use and accessibility to obtain credit cards it’s now far less common to see people carrying money on them instead of a card. The common perception is that it is safer to use a credit card or a debit card and carry less money around with them. But are you really safer from the threat of crime? 

• You are far more likely to become a victim of credit card fraud and identity theft than you are to have money physically stolen off of you.
• Although credit cards and debit cards are convenient, carrying cash is actually safer in most respects if you have an idea of where you are going and what you wish to purchase.
• Only bring credit cards along if you feel there could be a case of emergency such as a long road trip or vacation. Otherwise use cash or check to make your payments.
• The less you use your credit card number the less likely it is to be used fraudulently. 

Click to Know Preventing Credit Card Information Stolen!

Use cash more often than cards

Using cash is the most honest and face to face kind of transaction there is. Unless you are using counterfeit money, no sale will turn you down if you attempt to pay with cash. Nobody can take your money, secretly write down your bank account number and begin making purchases right under your nose. Now consider how often you might go out to eat, hand a waiter or waitress a credit card, and see them disappear for five minutes while they swipe your bill. During these moments where your card is in another’s hands how difficult would it be for them to write down your number, name, expiration date and take that information home with them? If you’ve ever made any transactions online it isn’t difficult to understand how dangerous your information can be in the hands of a would-be criminal.

Credit cards can be used for a variety of crimes

Credit card theft results in wide ranging types of crimes. Ironically it is a crime that is most often done by an acquaintance. However, once your information is in someone else’s hands who intend to use it, the internet is the perfect place to get started. It is a faceless transaction where no identification is required other than the correct information on your credit card. The billing address could be a temporary post office box filed under the phony id of someone else who has suffered identity theft. The internet also makes it easy for the criminal to start new credit cards under your assumed identity. All they need to get started is your social security number.

It is time for us all to start being more intelligent with our credit cards and give more thought to credit card identity theft protection. Nearly a third of all credit card holders will become a victim of fraud. Visit www.legal-yogi.com to learn more about identity theft protection. Call them anytime for a free one on one consultation at 1-800-397-1755.