Apna Sapna Money Money

Online credit card fraud is a term used for the theft and illegal use of credit cards. It is a very rampant case all around the world today. In fact, the Government of the United States of America has lost $315 billion dollars last 2005 from credit card theft alone. And in the year 2006, nearly 22 million consumers fell victim to credit card fraud.

Phishing – This is a widely used method by criminals. This term refers to the distribution of fake emails by the criminal through the Internet. The email would usually let the victim fill-up a form with his personal details, including the name and PIN number of the credit card. In this manner, the criminal gets the information and uses it to purchase goods or any items.

Pharming – This technique has only been discovered recently. This is one of the most dangerous among the three. The process involves the tampering with the domain name resolution process on the Internet. By hijacking or corrupting a Domain Name System (DNS), a user types the URL of a website he wants to visit without the knowledge that he will be redirected to a fake site. Unaware with what is happening, the user may just type in his bank account or card details making them a victim of Pharming.

Skimming – This is another process which involves using a device to copy the encoding data of a credit card. The device is usually inserted to an ATM machine and used as a card reader. This process is not so common these days anymore.

Actions- If you suspect that you have been a victim of a credit card fraud or theft, it is very important that you take actions as soon as possible. The very first thing you need to do if your card has been stolen or is lost is to go to your card issuer and report what happened.

After you have reported the incident, if no result has been given to you by the credit card issuer it would be better if you would follow up the case through phone calls and letters. If you are to send the letter, it should contain the details of your case like the date the card went missing, the date you reported it as lost or fraud and other details about your card.

Being able to know the different tactics that scammers and thefts use to gain access to your credit cards is very important for you to be able to avoid from becoming a victim of this rising fraud often common in the internet.