One of the most obvious ways to do this is to keep your pin number in a safe place – if you have it written down at all – and not with your card.
Another important thing to do is to protect your credit card details by preventing others from discovering your pin number. This not only means ensuring nobody can see what numbers you are typing when using it in a store, but also never giving out such information to anyone, particularly over the telephone.
It is also crucial that you regularly check your statements for any transactions you do not recognise as your own, because if you rarely check such statements it will be difficult to remember what each transaction represents. The internet makes checking your statements much easier as you can do it at your own convenience and do not need to wait for the monthly printout from you card provider. This can help to tackle card fraud by making you aware of it as soon as it occurs.
Signatures
Today, with the advent of chip and pin, only a handful of stores still require a signature. However, this does not mean that a signature on the back of a card is now useless. It is still important for you to sign the back of your credit card, not least because it will be easier to prove it is yours should you lose it. Some places still accept signatures rather than pin numbers, meaning that if you do not sign your card and it gets stolen, you could be making the criminal's life much easier.
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