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Protecting Yourself Against Credit Card Scammers

April 16, 2007

Yesterday MSNBC featured an article that was titled “Thieves Hit Albertson’s Credit Card Scanners”. Apparently someone had hooked up a device to one of Albertson’s credit card scanners, and had recorded five days of credit scans and numbers. The thieves then put the credit card information onto cards of their own, with magnetic strips, and apparently went on a began to take money out of the Albertson’s customer’s accounts

People’s hard earned money was disappearing from their accounts all over the place. What can you do to protect yourself and keep this from happening to you? Are there steps that you can take to keep thieves out of your accounts and away from your money?

Actually, there is one small thing that you can do that will help protect yourself from people stealing your hard earned money out of your account. If your credit card offers an identity theft protection plan, be sure that you have it. This will ensure that if you are taken advantage of in this way that the card company will protect you the best way that they can.

Most card companies will also alert you when they see suspicious activity on your account. This is a great feature to have as well, and can help protect you in the event that the matter at hand has not been figured out.

Really there is no way to keep this from happening to you. Just keep a close eye on your accounts, and if you ever see anything on them that you did not put there, call your credit card company and report it immediately. Cancel your cards, and let them know that there are charges made that were not authorized by you. Also be sure to keep documentation about everything you find, as well as the steps you have taken in case needed in the future.

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