Online Fraud? Some tips.

In today's technology wherein almost everything is available online, we are prone to depend to do our task online, whether purchasing goods, transferring money, paying bills , gaming, etc. Yet there several people still not able to fully understand the risk , some takes advantage to commit fraud or falsely claim fraud (most common reason, not able to pay their credit card bill)

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Several land based companies started to make themselves visible to the online world and the risk is getting higher.
I have worked for the last 20 years in online world, and it never seizes to surprise me the number of fraudulent transactions we are encountering and the various reason uses for fraudulent claim, some of which are very creative.

There is one case that I was handling, a woman called in and claims that there is fraud made with her credit card, we've searched for what was purchased and the info that was provided, she claims that all the info that was provided was not hers, and when I asked about the contact number that was given, she bluntly and angrily said "I don't know who that number belongs to, its not mine", my phone has a caller ID, and the number i just mentioned is the number that she is using to call us, then I calmly say, "are you sure ma'am?, but this is the number that you are calling us with." Then she tried to get around it.

There are some people that fraudulent claims are legitimate, unfortunate victims.
Basic ways to protect ourselves.
-Make sure that you don't share your password or PIN with anyone. When you do your passwords, make sure to use something that you can remember easily yet hard for anyone to guess.
-Make sure that your computer doesn't do an automatic saving of your passwords or PINs.
-Store your cards where no one can access it unless authorized by you.

• if you have children that you are giving access to your card, create an extension of your card instead of your card, with a controlled amount that can be used by them.
  -Avoid using free wi-fi, make sure to use a secure network or at least a known network.
  -Make it a habit to check your bank statement to make sure that are recognized by you.
  -Check with your bank if you have fraud protection coverage on your card, if not it is recommended to get some. It may cost you some but at least it is not as much if your card was used fraudulently.
• You can also use prepaid cards when purchasing online.