Then make sure you monitor your credit accounts and credit reports often, looking for any fraudulent activity.Įditorial Note: Our site content is not provided or commissioned by any credit card issuer(s). You will have to contact each of the credit reporting agencies, but it will make your credit information inaccessible. If your accounts have already been compromised or you want to take more extreme measures, freeze your credit files. This alert will warn lenders that you’re a potential victim, and they will have to contact you before granting a new account. If you think you may become a fraud victim because of a data breach, contact one of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, or Equifax) to add a fraud alert to your credit report. Remedy: Once your information is exposed it can be put up for sale and purchased. The problem is that the public only hears about the biggest breaches, such as what happened to Marriott International when malicious hackers absconded with the data of about 500 million customers.īut according to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s most recent Data Breach Report, there have been an astonishing 10,818 such breaches accounting for more than 1.6 billion compromised records between January 1, 2005, and August 31, 2019.
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You’ve probably heard national news reports about large data breaches, where credit card and identity information is stolen from retailers using malicious software and other nefarious techniques. And avoid shopping from public wifi hotspots, because your information can be grabbed by someone else on the network. If it doesn’t, the e-commerce site isn’t secure, and your data can be more easily pilfered. It should start with “https” and include a gray padlock symbol.
Never click on emails and texts from retailers offering promotions and instead go directly to the company websites.īefore entering your credit card account information to make the purchase, look at the web address in the browser bar.
So, make sure you only use your credit card on trusted and secure websites. Remedy: The primary reason for the uptick in credit card fraud during a shut-down is increased online shopping.
The dollar amount of attempted fraudulent transactions rose 35% in April 2020 - in the midst of the global pandemic - according to the Fidelity National Information Services Inc., a banking fraud detection company. Fraudsters don’t let an opportunity go to waste, and that includes situations where the country has shut down and consumers are vulnerable.