The wild west of credit cards

With the new EMV cards being issued (albeit slowly) we should be seeing a decline in stolen credit cards shouldn’t we? After all, these new cards are advertised as being able to cut down on credit card fraud which should leave the thieves in the dark. Well, no, it’s not.
Credit card fraud is a sixteen billion dollar a year problem here in the United States alone. We are the last major market to switch over to EMV cards, meaning there are still those magnetic strips on our cards. Yes, those magnetic strips that make credit card thieves salivate, which means they are gravitating over here by the planeload. We also switched to chip-and-signature cards rather than the chip-and-PIN cards that the rest of the world is using. While this is helping to cut down on fraud at merchant’s terminals there is a whole separate world where not even the chip-and-PIN security measures will help.
If you are reading this then chances are you have bought something online at some point in your life. When you buy something online as long as you enter in all of the correct information and the card is active then the transaction is approved. Simple as that. The thief now has whatever it is they want, be it actual goods or just a gift card to make things harder to track and they could have done it with your money. E-commerce is still somewhat of the wild west when it comes to credit cards. There is no way to verify that the buyer is who they say they are other then they entered in all of the information correctly. It could be John Smith from Sioux City or Vladimir Ivanakov of Volgograd sitting on the other side of the screen. There is no way to know.
With most banks and credit card issuers allowing for online access to statements and accounts checking your account has never been easier. Most financial institutions recommend that you do it at least every other day. If you do spot fraud then report it immediately. Many thieves make small purchases early to test whether the card is active and to test how vigilant their victim is. Catch it early and you can put that card out of action and make the thief go in search of another victim. Who knows, maybe they’ll get caught. Either way, you are making it more difficult for the thief.