Credit Card Fraud - My experience. (Credit Cards in general)

Member Name: carlossp

Product:	Credit Cards in general
Date:	03/02/01 (420 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No advantages to credit card fraud.

Disadvantages: Can happen to anyone, you can't protect yourself 100%.

INTRODUCTION

A few days ago, I received an urgent call at work from The Royal Bank of Scotland credit card fraud department. After going though a vigorous security check I found out that I had apparently just moved house from Birmingham to a new address in Oxford, against my knowledge.

Of course with a criminal knowing my credit card number, this would have allowed him or her to order goods to that address on my credit card without me knowing, and it very nearly succeeded. I wouldn’t have known about the problem until the embarrassing day when my credit card got rejected while attempting to make a purchase due to it being over the credit limit. It would have been a very difficult situation, as I would have had to prove I hadn’t made the unauthorised purchases.

FULL MARKS TO THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND

I congratulate the Royal Bank of Scotland credit card fraud department because after my details were changed, they noticed inconsistencies with the new address, mainly that there was no other record of me living there. Alarm bells started ringing which lead to cancelling my card before any money was illegally spent. A full investigation is now in progress to attempt to catch the criminal(s).

The Royal Bank of Scotland are now issuing me with another credit card and number along with additional security and passwords that will be required to gain access to my account.

HOW THE CRIMINALS DID IT

The person who phoned up to change my address worryingly knows the following information about me:

My full name, address, credit card number, date of birth and mothers maiden name.

You may think the above information is difficult to obtain, but then think again. Various companies ask for the above information for their own security checks, E.g. Telecom companies, utilities, banks Etc. It only takes one dishonest person working for one of these companies to divulge your personal details int
o a criminal underworld.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

It’s a very difficult situation as no one can protect themselves 100%. Unfortunately every time you pay for something using your credit card, the wrong people could record your number and there’s nothing you can do about this unless you don’t use a credit card.

Additionally to being normally vigilant with your credit card, my best advice is to ensure that you don’t have security questions with one company the same as another. Your mother’s maiden name just isn’t adequate security. I almost learnt the hard way.

With Credit Card fraud increasing rapidly, I think the Credit Card companies urgently need to change the way we use our credit cards permanently to protect themselves and the customer.

Summary: