Credit card fraud in the digital economy threatens both consumers and businesses alike. With fraudsters deploying sophisticated tactics time and again, it is essential to stay alert. Here are a few tips that might help detect credit card fraud in its early stages and stop further losses.
Harness Credit Card OCR Technology
Credit card Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology provides some of the best in fraud detection. Businesses and financial institutions use credit card OCR to scan, store, and verify credit card details, while anomalies are detected in the same process. With OCR technology, fraudulent activities are curbed by aligning transactions with legitimate card data and erasing the fear of manual errors during entry.
For the end consumer, OCR technology embeds into banking apps for quick and easy card-related tracking and storage, dispensing with the problem stipulated by manually entering highly sensitive card information.
Review Your Transactions Frequently
Analyzing your statements regularly is the easiest and most effective way to identify fraud. Configure your profile for real-time transaction alerts to flag any unauthorized activity immediately.
Many banking apps allow you to set custom alerts that will notify you about specific transactions, whilst suspicious transaction notifications can come when you purchase over a certain amount in a foreign country or at an unknown merchant. Regularly monitoring your transactions should help spot suspicious activity before it escalates.
Confirm Any Suspicious Phone Calls or Emails
One common tactic used by thieves is phishing to steal card details. With phishing, thieves send emails or text messages that purport to be from your bank or card company. These are often urgent claims, prompting the victims to follow links or input sensitive information.
You must be careful of messages with misspellings or grammatical errors, specific addresses, or repetitive requests to verify personal details. Instead of following the links, visiting the official website or calling the company to confirm the claims is best.
Turn On 2-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Most financial institutions have 2FA as a choice of an additional security layer, and requiring another step to verify a transaction in the form of a code that can be texted or that can come from an app hugely cuts the risk for fraud.
Should some fraudster get their hands on your credit card number, they still require that second factor to complete a transaction. Some banks also have biometric authentication, such as fingerprint scanning or facial recognition, as added security. Turn that 2FA on whenever you find it, and update your authentication method regularly.
Secure Your Online Shopping
Only share your credit card details on secure websites when shopping online. This means the URL must have “https,” which indicates that an encryption process is running on your data. Never save card details for future usage; data breaches could compromise those.
Consider using virtual cards or digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, which provide single-use transaction codes and prevent fraudsters from reusing your details. Some banks also issue temporary virtual card numbers that help increase security while doing online shopping.
Endnote
An individual or a group of people can detect and deter credit card fraud. Applying technologies such as credit card OCR can add security to sensitive financial information. By being vigilant and informed, users can protect their information and finances.