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The good news for consumers is that the success of chip and PIN has
seen card fraud in shops and supermarkets drop significantly. Fraud
losses are down by 43% from £73.2 million to £42.1m in the
face-to-face retail environment but shoppers are being reminded to
be vigilant especially with Internet, phone and mail order
transactions, where card-not-present fraud has increased but at a
much slower rate than seen previously. In the busy Christmas period
it is easy to lose sight of your card or drop your guard when
entering your PIN during a purchase, and a momentary lapse is all
that is needed to open the door for professional criminals.
When entering your PIN at a
cashmachine or into a PIN pad in a shop you should always shield the
number from prying eyes with your spare hand. Protecting your
personal information is paramount and that also means shredding or
destroying any receipts or documents that contain private financial
details and not writing down passwords, login details or PIN
numbers.
Online shopping is set to smash last
year’s record with an estimated £7 billion being spent on getting
the latest gadgets, toys and fashion accessories. Shopping online
couldn’t be safer as long as you follow some simple security steps
such as ensuring that your computer has up-to-date anti-virus
software and a firewall installed. You should also register your
credit and debit cards with Verified by Visa and MasterCard
SecureCode, which enables cardholders to better authenticate
themselves with a password when shopping online – making online
transactions even safer.
But there are other precautions that
you may not be familiar with. Millions of Britons are still not
aware of some basic security pitfalls. A quarter of people surveyed
by APACS have disclosed their PIN to someone else, 27% use the same
PIN for all their cards and more than half of online shoppers never
check that a website address changes from http to https (indicating
the site is secure) before making a purchase.
When accessing internet banking or
shopping sites you should always type the address into your web
browser rather than going to a website from a link in an email and
then entering your personal details. To make sure that a shopping
website is secure check that the security icon (locked padlock or
unbroken key symbol) is showing in the bottom of your browser
window.
Click here for APACS top Ten Tips to
foil the fraudsters:
www.cardwatch.org.uk
&
www.banksafeonline.org.uk
Watch an online
interview/chat with Mark Bowerman and Richard Martin from
APACS offer advice on beating the Christmas fraudsters
-
click here
November 2006
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