You can avoid fraud if you know how to detect it. There are several different types of card fraud to avoid:
Fraud can happen to you at any time and through a number of different sources. It is important that you quickly recognize it and know what to do to help mitigate the risk of you being impacted.
phishing
Phishing - an attempt at identity theft using a fake website or email that looks identical or similar to the genuine website that a user is used to seeing.
vishing
Vishing - is the criminal practice of using social engineering and Voice over IP (VoIP) to gain access to private personal and financial information for the purpose of financial reward. The term is a combination of "voice" and phishing. When you answer a phone call, an automated recording, often generated with a text to speech synthesizer, is played to alert you that your credit card has had fraudulent activity and you should call a designated number immediately. Moreover, that same phone number is often shown in the spoofed caller ID with the same name as the financial company they are pretending to represent. If you receive this type of call, you are advised to contact your bank or credit card company directly to verify its validity.
smishing
Smishing - is a form of criminal activity using social engineering techniques similar to phishing. With smishing, you may receive SMS messages through your mobile device that may ask you to register for an online service and then try to sneak a virus onto your device. Other types of messages may warn that you will be charged unless you cancel a supposed order by going to a website that will attempt to extract credit card information and other private data.
spoofing
Spoofing - forging and distributing emails to acquire a valid password to gain unauthorized access to a computer.
hacking
Hacking - an attempt by an accomplished technical computer operator to break into computers or networks for illegal purposes.
identity theft
Identity Theft - the crime of impersonating someone for a financial or criminal gain.
skimmer
Skimmer - a tool that aids the process of copying card details from the magnetic strip on the back of the card to be transferred on to a counterfeit card for the purpose of fraudulent use.
viruses
Viruses - a code written to spread from one computer to the next, damaging hardware or used to access a computer for criminal intent.
worms
Worms - a self-replicating virus that does not alter files, but resides in active memory and duplicates itself for the purpose of malicious intent (like shutting systems down).
trojan horses
Trojan Horses - a computer program or email attachment that appears to be useful but is actually harmful and may include a virus.
adware
Adware: advertisements that "pop up" in a separate browser window. Some look like they come from respectable financial institutions and ask for personal financial information. Others might have a link that downloads spyware. Please note that most financial institutions will never request personal financial information or that you download from a pop-up.
spyware
Spyware - a software that spies on your computer to capture information like web browsing habits, email messages, user names and passwords and credit card information.
