Mini-candy bars haven’t even hit trick-or-treat bags yet, and we’re already hearing about all the Freddy Kruegers that cause credit card nightmares during the holiday shopping season.
“Sometimes, the pathway to being a victim to fraud is the desire to find a bargain without really thinking about it,” said John Buzzard, a consumer fraud expert and product manager of FICO Card Alert Service. “You’re not going to find a Cartier watch for $50. If you could, I’d have one by now.”
As we move into the holiday season, expect even more pitches by e-mail, text and other digital means to encourage consumers to put their purchases on plastic. But all that convenience can create easy pickings for con artists. Yes, credit cards have protections, but you don’t want to be at risk for ID theft or face the headache of clearing up fraud.
The FICO Falcon Fraud Manager Consortium research indicates that “card-not-present fraud” is a fast-growing area and now accounts for nearly half of all credit card fraud.
Source: USA Today
