The holiday season is in full swing, how can you shop smarter and safer when debit card fraud can happen anywhere and at any time? Your friends at NorthRidge Community Credit Union want to help give you some tips and tricks that you can use to better protect yourself.
- When shopping always use the chip reader for your payment. When swiping your debit card, the merchant stores that information. That information can be used to steal your debit card information. But, using your debit card’s chip will scramble your debit card information, this way the store doesn’t have all your information on file.
- When given the option always process your debit card as a credit purchase to avoid entering your pin when paying for purchases. This way if someone was able to see your card numbers, they cannot use your at an ATM.
- Check your account regularly. Use your NorthRidge Community Credit Union online banking to better track your account. The sooner you catch fraudulent activity, the less account damage they can do.
- Be careful of scam emails. If a stores system is hacked, those that stole information may try emailing customers to get more information from them. When you receive emails that seem suspicious do not open any links or respond to the email. Find and use the official phone number for the business and confirm if the communication is real or fraudulent.
Do not be fearful though, if something happens, you are protected. Anytime you notice activity on your account that seems out of the ordinary or you just have a question about how to stay secure, contact us and we will help keep you safe and protected this holiday season.
