I don’t know about you, but we just got our first snow of the season this week. You know what that means? Time to winterize! Winterize the house, winterize the car…but what about winterizing your credit? Credit fraud is always the highest during this time of year, so here are 5 tips to avoid credit fraud this holiday season.
1. Check Account Transactions
Check your account transactions routinely to make sure you don’t see any purchases you don’t recognize. Smaller transactions can fly under the radar and not flag any credit fraud alerts you may have in place. On top of that, fraudsters will often charge a small amount to see if it gets detected before making a large purchase.
2. Activate Notifications
Activate notifications on your smartphone so you receive an alert every time a purchase is made. This way you can know immediately if you’ve been a victim of holiday credit fraud and take action.
3. Get Fraud Protection
Make sure you have Fraud Protection. In general, credit cards make it easier to report credit fraud and get your money back than debit cards, but you will want to review the terms of your account closely and make sure you are protected.
4. Make Credit Card Hard to Use
Make your card more difficult to use by writing “See I.D.” on the back of the card. You can also black out the 3 digit security code on the card, but you want to make sure you have the code memorized or stored in a safe space.
5. Use Secure Sites
Be careful where you input your card information online. Make sure the website you are making purchases is legitimate, and not an imposter website. One thing to look to look for is the “https” on the website address. The “s” means it’s secure. Also, make sure you aren’t making purchases on public networks, as they are not secure.
For other ways to avoid holiday credit fraud & identity fraud, here are some additional resources:
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