Gone are the days when you needed to leave the house to buy the things you needed. These days you can purchase anything from new clothing to food and new furniture at the click of a mouse. This is wonderfully convenient. However, it is also more convenient for fraudsters as they can steal your card details from the comfort of their own couches. Here are five ways to protect your card information when using your bank details online.
Make Sure Your Device Is Secure
You can make sure your device is secure by using up-to-date virus software, firewall, and anti-spyware. This makes it harder for criminals to steal your information. Many banks offer free security software to keep your information safe too. It is worth remembering that it is easier to steal a smaller device such as a mobile phone or iPad rather than a computer. Once your device has been stolen, the thief may have access to your details. To stay safe, only use your bank card on your home computer and update the anti-virus software on your small devices too.
Create Unique Passwords
Creating unique passwords makes it harder for the fraudster to steal your information. Make sure the passwords for different bank accounts are all different from each other to make stealing your details more complicated. You should use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters as well as symbols and numbers. Avoid writing these passwords down so they can’t be found easily.
Use a Single Credit Card
You should also use a single credit card for making purchases online. This means that if your card information is stolen you only need to report one card rather than multiple. It also reduces the amount a thief can steal from you as you will only have one credit limit rather than multiple limits.
Use Trusted Sites
It’s also a good idea to only use sites that you trust, such as big-name retailers, or to do some research to make sure you are using a legitimate website. Sites such as www.maplecasino.ca can be used for playing casinos games as they have checked the sites they use and only work with those that have the best reviews. This site will also show you which ones to avoid.
There are several ways of checking that a website is genuine. For example, out-of-date security certificates, incorrect use of spelling and grammar, an incorrect URL, and a lack of contact details all suggest that this site is a scam and is best avoided.
Phishing
Many fraudsters will attempt to steal your card information through phishing. This type of scam usually involves an e-mail text message or phone call where the thief will attempt to extract your bank information from you. They will quite often do this by pretending to be from a recognized company such as your bank or a government department. You should avoid sending information in this way and phone the company back, having checked the phone number on a genuine website, if you think this may have been a legitimate contact.
Use these five tips to protect your card information and stay safe online. Otherwise, you could become a victim of fraud, and this could cost you thousands of dollars.
