We’re all aware that there are criminals and scammers out there, and many are waiting for the perfect time to steal our credit card information. These criminals desire our credit card information so they can charge with them and run up the limit, thus leaving us responsible. We’ll have nothing to show for it. While some are local, the majority of credit card criminals are from other parts of the world. Even worse, they enjoy hiding or going by alias names so it’s nearly impossible to track them down.
Phishing appears to be the most common way for thieves to get credit card information. Phishing involves sending a fake email to your email account making it appear to be from your credit card lender. Typically, the fake email claims that there’s an error with your account, or that “unauthorized personnel” tried accessing it.
It isn’t hard to spot these fake emails, just as long as you know exactly what to look for. Obviously, the biggest hint is that you may not even have a credit card from that specific company. If you do, however, you can pay close attention to the link in the email. You should be able to tell whether the link is real or fake by looking at it. Move your mouse so that it hovers over the link, and then right click on the link. Select “view source” to see if the link is fake or not. If it’s fake, chances are the URL will be something that’s not really associated with your credit company.
Criminals don’t want you to do this, because they don’t want you to know what the source is. They want you to simply click on the link to fill out your personal information. If you do click on the link, you’ll see that the website is an exact copy of the credit company’s website. Fake sites typically include the same exact things as the real websites do–even the logos and layouts. Even amateur criminals know how to make these pages.
If you’ve fallen for victim to the scamming, you probably now realize that what you have done even though it’s too late. All it takes is entering the credit card information once, and you’ve done exactly what the fraud criminals wanted you to do. You have become a victim of identity theft. Once the thief has your personal information, such as your social security number, he or she is most likely going to use that information to go on a nice, big shopping spree—by stealing your money.
If you have ever received an email such as this, or if you ever do—delete it. Even if you want to click on the fake link to visit the fake website to investigate, you can still do more harm than good. Sometimes, even if the personal information isn’t entered, computers can still get infected with spyware and/or viruses. To avoid any of this, you should never click on the link in the first place. Delete it immediately. Call your credit card company and confirm with them if they sent the email or not if you’re unsure.
By doing your part and protecting your credit card information, you won’t have anything to worry about. Your personal information is important for you to protect, and you’ll never want it falling into the wrong hands. By protecting it, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. There are always thieves out there somewhere, so obviously you need to always be on guard. They want your personal information and credit card account information, so it’s up to you to make sure they don’t obtain it. Criminals do everything they can to get such information, so protecting yourself is more important than ever these days.
18 Nov
