How to prevent Credit Card fraud

Credit Card Fraud is now the most common prevailing crimes in the cyber space. Online merchants need to take all necessary steps in combating this and not to fall prey to these crimes. Stealing customers credit card information not only puts a merchant's customers at risk but also the merchant itself, where he looses a valuable customer, the worst thing of the bad remark the merchant is sealed by the customer which spreads through word of mouth, the merchant also looses on more sales.

The first step for merchants to take before going live with there online sales site is to make sure all data of customer transferred is secured, this is done by secure certificates installed on servers called SSL. Customer credit card information should never be stored in merchants server and if necessary only the fast 4 digts. Merchants also need to takes steps to secure there products information, customers data and all other information stored in there database with strict security practices, and prevent it from common database attacks like SQL injection, cross site scripting, which potentially invades the database contents and intern harms the customers visiting the merchant's website.

Please be aware that while identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century so far, it is not limited to just online activities. Granted, with the advent of the ease of shopping online and being able to purchase something at a great price with just a couple of mouse clicks is attractive for many, there are steps you should take to ensure that you have done everything responsible that you can do to avoid your information from getting into the wrong hands. One of the first places to start is to get yourself a copy of your credit report, and look especially for accounts that you are not aware of, which is the first sign that you may be a victim of identity theft.

Online identity theft is a serious crime that can clean out your life savings and leave you with a damaged credit history that may take years to repair. Unless you're familiar with the person with whom you're dealing, or are filling out an official form for a legitimate personal or business purpose, information such as a social security number, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and other types of data that might have a bearing on your individuality should never be divulged. If you've ever used a credit card to order take-out food over the phone, you're leaving yourself wide open to identity theft.

Congress passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act several years ago in an attempt to smooth out some problems in the credit reporting industry. The presence of this alert requires any creditor to verify the identity of the borrower prior to granting credit in his or her name.

When you travel, regardless of how you book your reservations, your personal information will still end up on the company's computer and stored in their databases. Many companies, including some large major corporations, do not protect your personal data the way they should.

Many people ignore the importance of protecting their personal and financial information against identity theft until they become a victim of it. The amount of goods and services purchased with fraudulently obtained personal identity was more than $50 billion dollars last year.

If you purchase merchandise online frequently, you may want to use a separate credit card that you obtain just for that purpose. Always use ONLY that credit card. For the junk mail that you receive regularly saying you are approved for a new credit card or mortgage loan, don't just simply throw it in the trash. Instead, invest in a shredder and take the time to shred those letters. Many cases of identity theft occur because the thief has gone "dumpster diving" to find those pre-approval letters, and opens an account in your name.

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