The Top Five Ways To Protect Yourself From Online Fraud
Susan Littlegate has been a victim of online fraud not once but twice. In September last year her debit card was used in bank fraud transactions in Brazil, on the over side of the world. Luckily her bank spotted the irregularity of the transaction and cancelled it. The second time she was simply online shopping when her bank card was refused. Upon checking her bank statement her balance had been wiped to zero – her card had been ‘cloned’ and her bank account emptied.
When these situations occur it can be devastating. After Susan’s second experience of bank card online fraud it took well over a month for her bank to retrieve the money, resulting in finance charges for her unpaid mortgage and credit card payments.
It begs the question: – “How would you manage a month with no access your bank funds”?
Rise In Online Bank Fraud
Online bank fraud is on the up and incidents in 2008 alone totalled a staggering £52.5 million in the UK alone.
Nearly 15m people in the UK use the internet for finance and banking services and the most significant rise in online fraud is when criminals take over someone’s bank account through card ID theft with losses up by 39% in 2008.
Online Fraud Tactics
Online fraudsters are known to use a device called key logging. It is software that tracks what you type in order to collect bank passwords and credit card details. These malicious computer software programs usually find their way onto a computer when a user clicks on an unsolicited e-mail.
Another fraud tactic is ‘Phishing’ where an email is sent pretending to be from your bank asking you to click on a link which will take you to a fake website identical to your own bank site and ask you to confirm your personal bank finance details.
‘Chip and pin’ bank cards were introduced by UK banks in 2004 and proved to be successful in lowering the amount of banking frauds but as online banking has
become increasing popular, with consumers taking advantage of the chance to bank from their armchairs, online bank fraud has started to rise again.
Protecting Yourself
Despite the large number of internet users many have no idea how to protect themselves online. In order to bank safe online it is essential you play your part in making sure you do not become a fraud victim.
Here are five online finance recommendations to help protect yourself against online fraud: -
1 One in four people do not carry out any checks to see whether a site is safe and secure before carrying out a transaction. It is essential that you stay vigilant and never relax your guard while shopping online or carrying out financial transactions. Free anti fraud software is available by McAfee to check whether a site is safe before you click on it. Make sure your firewalls are always turned on and you antivirus software is always kept up to date.
2 Always make sure you log out of sites when you have finished your shopping/transactions. If you stay logged in it means your financial details are available to others.
3 Don’t open emails from people that you do not know. Do not click on a link especially if it is in the email and it asks you for personal finance bank details. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of the email do not respond. Beware of emails which offer you a prize or a discount which requires you to choose a user id and password (as many people use the same details for many bank accounts and thieves will collect these details and try to use them). Any emails which have a sense of urgency or ask you for personal finance or bank details be wary of.
4 It is advised that you change your online bank password every 60 days. All sites that you have an account with will let you easily change your password usually by following a very simple and quick set of procedures. Changing your password regularly will help limit the accounts exposure and misuse, meaning less danger of online fraud. To make your password harder to guess use a mixture of upper case, lower case and number (as long as you can remember it!).
5 Stay in control of your money. The Eclipse prepaid MasterCard is a great way to do just that. The Eclipse card is not a credit card so you do not need to worry about debt or fraud and it is not debit card so it is in no way linked to your online bank account. You are not able to borrow money; you simply can only spend what you have loaded onto the card, meaning you are completely
in control of your money. As it is not linked to your online bank account it means people will not be able to fraudulently carry out any activities with your personal banking details. It literally takes seconds to top up your card either using your phone, wire transfer or online banking. You can also use cash to top up at the post office, Paypoint or using a top up pack.
Anyone in the UK who does fall victim of online fraud will have their money reimbursed as long as they have acted with ‘reasonable care’ and not in a fraudulent manner. If you do fall victim to online fraud there are many places where you can get help and advice, including: -
http://www.apacs.org.ukhttp://www.cardwatch.org.uk/
http://www.eclipsecard.co.uk/eclipse_card/Online_security
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/the-top-five-ways-to-protect-yourself-from-online-fraud-959472.html
Welcome back! You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Related Posts - Do Businesses Need Antivirus Protection? Antivirus software and services are designed to help keep your computer safe. Businesses, large and small, are at particular risk. Most businesses have some sort of accounting records stored somewhere on their computers. This is typical to help keep track of payments made, payments owed, and to help determine the......
- The Need for Internet Privacy Protection Should we be worried about the protection of our privacy on the internet. Are there really thousands of people trying to spy on us, watching our every move. Well perhaps this article will give you a little knowledge of some of the most important issues involved in Internet privacy protection.......
- Avoid Antivirus09 – It's a Risky Rogue What exactly is Antivirus09? It is a fraudulent online scanner made for the purpose of taking innocent people’s money. Although the messages look very real and convincing, the user should avoid clicking on the message to download the scan. It is simply a scam that has the potential to cause......
- Preventing Identity Theft: Here’s How To There is a substantial increase in the number of identity thieves. Everyone should be worried about the statistics. Fortunately, it is not that hard to protect your identity against the fastest-growing criminal activity in the country. The most important thing is for you to be very careful in giving away......
- Phishing Scams - How to Protect My PC Against Phishing Most people know that computer security is very important. However, according to a research done by National Cyber Securiy Alliance and Symantec, most Americans actually believe that they are safe online but in fact, they are not. There are many types of online threats such as spyware, malware, rootkit and......
Related Websites - So, how do you tell if you can actually afford that home you want? Since I only have a few minutes this morning, I wanted to quickly post this article about affording your new house that I found online. Sorry I don't have time to comment on it, but I have to run out for the day. Hope everyone has a great one. According......
- When To Buy US Dollars and How to Take Advantage of the Canadian-USD Exchange Rate Once again, the Canadian dollar is climbing back up towards parity with the greenback. Most recently, it closed at 92 cents on the US dollar. For Canadians, this is an excellent time to purchase US dollars ahead of any trips you might need to take south of the border. Many......
- Two Unrelated Topics About Banks So today I have two small posts bunched into one. The first is a look at why banks aren’t lending, again. The second was inspired by a recent bank fee I received. Why The Banks Aren’t Lending, Again You remember last year everyone was complaining about why banks weren’t lending? ......
-
Debt and the Holidays A lot of people make use of their credit cards when shopping for the holiday season on the premise that they are going to pay all of the newly formed debt off within only two or three months time. Unfortunately, most people are still trying to tackle these credit card...... - EverFi Teaches Young People About Money Through Online Games. While I am not a proponent of encouraging students to spend even more time playing games online, even I might be convinced by what these guys have come up with. EverFi is an online financial literacy education platform/game that is designed to teach Generation Y about being financially responsible. From......
« Data Security In Todays Computing | Home | Registry Defender Is a Clear Threat to Your Computer »
Comments
i m working for payment gayeway. I would appreciate if u continue to keep an upto date record of online fraud happening in any of the world. Can u pls mail me contact no. of a person who can trace online frauds happening in kolkatta with the help of IP addresses, fax no. and contact no. Pls revert me
Trackbacks
Leave a Comment