Credit card fraud lawyer was created to help you, the consumer, battle fraud.  On a worldwide scale the costs to card companies today are now in the tens of billions of dollars a year in fraudulent usage. Much of this loss is passed back to retail stores and merchants who failed to comply with the standard processing method for the card. A partial amount of the loss is insured also. But the bottom line is as a cardholder, you are potentially liable for any unauthorized use of your credit card.  Today more than ever, it is vitally important that you are aware of the current fraudulent scams and how you can help both yourself and anyone who holds a card in the battle of credit card fraud prevention.

What To Do If You Suspect Fraud

If you feel you have been the victim of credit card fraud it is advisable that you contact your issuing company as soon as possible.  It is a good idea to photocopy the front and back of your card and keep that in a secure place in case you actually physically lose your card.  This way you will have all of the necessary information at hand when you contact your card company.  If you feel that you need to go a step further we at credit card fraud lawyer suggest you contact an attorney immediately to find out what your rights are.  Different states have different laws so you want to find a credit card fraud attorney who will be familiar with your laws.

Minimize Your Risk

To this end, the following are some basic common sense fraud prevention methods you can adopt:

* When using your card, never let your card out of your sight
* If you use the card in an old carbon-copy paper machine, keep the carbon-copy and destroy it later
* Never use your credit card on an unsecured website: look for the “s” in the browser bar (https vs just http)
* Never use your credit card to withdraw money in an ATM

How To Handle Email Or Mail Offers

You have probably come across many websites and unsolicited emails offering free credit reports or very low interest credit cards. It would be advisable that you make a detailed study of such websites before applying for the free offers. Many such sites do not actually provide any free credit report or credit cards.  Shocking, I know!  They are just there to collect your personal information to use against you later. You never know who they may sell your information to with the intent to use it to commit fraud, including identity theft.  With that in mind here are a few tips to consider before jumping on these offers.

* If you get an email offering a free credit report or credit cards, contact the company who has sent you the email. You can either call them or browse through their web address to asses their reliability. Avoid replying or clicking any live links in the email address.
* You can verify the company’s telephone number and address. There are many websites like www.switchboard.com and www.anywho.com that can help you in verifying the address and telephone number of the company.
* Pay attention to the area code. Check if it matches the address provided by the company.
* Also look at the company’s web address whether it is the real company address or is it a misspelled version of the address of some legitimate company’s web address.
* Check the email address and whether it goes with the company’s email address.
* Also check if the company’s web address redirects you to a different web address. If the answer is yes, it is common sense to avoid it.
* Do not provide your personal information like PIN ( Personal Identification number), three digit code of your credit card or your passport number  to any site just like that. Official sites do not ask for this information.
* It would be advisable that you only apply for a free credit report or credit cards through secure web sites.

Aside from the above, using certain technological advances with your credit card should also help with any credit or debit card fraud prevention. In this regard, the following are currently popular with card issuers:

* Identification photos: where your picture is shown on the front of the card
* Fingerprinting: where a copy of your fingerprint is shown on the reverse of your card;
* Chip and Pin systems: where the card has an encrypted chip containing details about the card and a PIN that ensures the card is a genuine issue. Essentially the chip contains the same information that used to be contained in the magnetic strip on the reverse of the card, but in chip format it is believed to be harder to copy.

Realize It Can Happen To Anybody

Although none of these ideas is a foolproof credit card fraud protection method, with card fraud costing more and more each year, you can bet that issuers are going to be tackling this issue head-on.  There is no way for you to be totally safe because not everything is in your control.  Merchants and vendors slip up with their security from time to time and that may ultimately effect you. It even happened to Fed Chairman Bernanke.

If you have a credit or debit card, you will always have some risk.  We just hope this site will help you minimize your chances of becoming a victim.  Please stay aware of the latest credit card fraud prevention methods and help combat this growing problem.

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