July 27, 2005

Credit Card Fraud: Be Smart. But Do Shop & Merchants Protect Yourself

Some people don't shop online for fear their credit card numbers will get stolen and used. However, there's many people who have their credit card stolen by the local deli or gas station. Not going online, might not be such a great protection against credit card fraud.

Who MUST be careful are the merchants who take credit cards as payment. In a fraud merchants lose their product, the shipping fee and they are assessed charge back fees reports News Factor.

News Factor writes Kimberly Williams, a Seattle resident, has never shopped online for fear her credit card number would be vulnerable to theft. Williams is a police officer who investigates fraud and identity theft cases, so it was a shock when her bank called her recently with news that her credit card had been compromised.

"They told me someone tried to use my card in a northern Illinois discount store, a place I have never been," said Williams. "The bank believed my number was stolen from a retailer I visited in Seattle weeks before, so even though I never used the credit card online, it was stolen from the retail store and then sold online. The thief tried to use my number and her name. I'm vulnerable whether or not I shop online."

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