For Ms. Ris Low, who was crowned Miss Singapore in July of 2009, it was a new-well, low. The 19-year old beauty was forced to resign her title after local media revealed that she had been convicted earlier in the year for going on a shopping spree with stolen credit cards. The Singapore pageant queen allegedly had stolen credit cards from customers at the medical clinic where she worked and used them to purchase more than $5,000 worth of jewelry, lingerie, and mobile phones.
For Ms. Low, who is currently on probation for credit card fraud, it was the end of her dream to represent Singapore at the Miss World finals in South Africa in December of 2009. For the rest of us, the incidence is a sobering reminder that credit cards, well, while not as good as cash, still should be treated like cash.
The media headlines are dominated by large-scale, sophisticated credit card cyber theft, such as the recent online security breaches at Heartland Payment Systems and the parent company of TJ-Maxx, which involved stolen credit card information in the hundreds of millions. However, every day brings plenty of news reports from local media, which make it clear that “good,” old-fashioned credit card theft is alive and well.
We’re not just talking stolen wallets here. As credit cards have proliferated, offline credit card thieves have become more sophisticated. An increasingly common scheme is the so-called credit card skimming, in which credit card thieves use a card reading device to ‘skim’ off the card information at point-of-sale cash registers. The information is later used to create a clone of the credit card, which can be used for fraudulent purchases.
What can you do to protect yourself against identity theft and off-line credit card fraud? Here are seven tips to make sure your credit card information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
1. Treat your card like cash. You wouldn’t leave your purse unattended if you had several hundred dollars in cash sitting in your wallet. However, even if you carry no cash to speak of, never leave your purse unattended, even in places with people you know. Most instances of offline credit card fraud is perpetuated by people familiar to the victim of the theft, such as family members, co-workers, friends, or as in the case of Ms. Low, people who work in a business or clinic you may be visiting.
2. Don’t let your credit card out of sight. The most common venues for credit card skimming are malls, restaurants, or gas stations. To protect yourself, never let your credit card out of sight. If in a restaurant you don’t usually frequent, follow the waiter back to the restaurant’s payment terminal if necessary. It may feel awkward, but it’s the only way to protect yourself from someone cloning your credit card.
3. Guard your mail. Never leave mail unattended for long periods of time. When you’re gone on vacation, ask a trustworthy neighbor to pick up the mail.
4. Shred it. Personal information is sometimes stolen right out of the thrash. Guard credit card numbers by shredding old receipts and credit card bills. Shred any discarded mail that contains personal information. Tear up charge receipts, copies of credit card offers, discarded bank checks and statements. Cut up expired credit cards before throwing them in the thrash.
5. Sign your credit cards on the back. The signature panel on the back of credit cards provides an important line of defense against fraudulent use. Be sure to sign new credit cards as soon as they arrive in the mail. While many vendors won’t check small purchases, most do check the signature panel for larger purchases.
6. Check your credit card statements carefully each month. In many cases of credit card theft, the fraud is perpetrated without the cardholder’s knowledge. Someone could, for example, steal your card out of your wallet at work, go on a shopping spree, and slip the card back in, without you ever realizing it. The only way to protect yourself against unauthorized use of your credit card is to look over your card statement each month. If you see any charges you don’t recognize, contact your card issuer immediately.
7. Know where all your credit cards are. Don’t keep credit cards you don’t use lying around in a drawer or other place where they could be easily found and used by someone else.
To learn about how to protect yourself against credit card fraud when shopping online, see this useful article:
