The Best Credit Card Guide on Credit Card Fraud

According to APAX, total card fraud in the UK reached £439.4M in 2005, a reduction of 13% on 2004. This means that around £1.2M is lost to card fraud every day, with an incident of card fraud occuring every 9 seconds.

The largest proportion of card fraud occurs from transactions over the telephone, on the Internet or from mail order.

Fraud from lost, stolen or counterfeit cards is being tackeled by new chip and PIN cards.

There are some simple rules that you can follow that will help prevent you from being the victim of fraud.

• Dispose of financial statements, card receipts and other personal documents with care. Rip up or preferably shred any such documents.

• When entering your PIN, use your spare hand as a shield.

• Look out for a pinhole camera, hidden inside trunking being fitted to a cash machine.

• Look out for a card 'skimmer', disguised as a card entry slot, being fitted to a cash machine.

• Be aware of 'Shoulder surfing' - a criminal looks over the innocent victim's shoulder to observe their PIN.

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