Credit card fraud remains as one of the biggest problems around the world when it comes to Web scams, online crimes and fraudulent cyber schemes. This has caused millions of users and businesses in many countries to lose a lot of money and a great deal of suffering over the years. In the USA, $8 billion losses were reported in 2014 due to credit card scams and identity theft. Many cyber security experts and financial analysts predict a whopping 125% increase in losses due to card not present crimes and identity theft by the end of 2018. That’s more than $19 billion of losses in the next 20 months or so.
Scammers and organized crime syndicates constantly create new tactics and schemes for stealing the credit card details of users worldwide. One of their main strategies is to devise phishing attacks that trick users into thinking that they need to log into their online banking platforms to update their financial details, personal credentials and other sensitive data. Little do they know that they’re being victimized by credit card fraud, since as soon as they enter their credentials in these fake sites, their inputs are logged and stolen by the authors of the bogus website.
Another strategy that’s carried out by fraudsters to commit credit card fraud is to distribute malicious applications with spyware components. They tamper popular software products and other digital content like movies, books, songs and the like. They inject auto install malware into these tampered digital goods, which they then share all over the Internet, mostly in illegal download repositories with copyrighted materials.
Once these are downloaded and opened by unsuspecting users, the malware in these tampered digital products are secretly installed in their devices. This automatically activates each time they turn on their devices, logging their inputs and recording their activities without their knowledge. This means when they use their compromised devices to log into their online bank accounts or purchase products from ecommerce stores and the like – Their credentials are covertly logged and stealthily transmitted to designated Web servers operated by the authors of the malware. That’s how they end up as credit card fraud victims.
On the other hand, businesses are victimized by credit card fraud by losing a lot of money from scammers who use stolen credit cards for buying their products. They don’t only lose the products, but also rack up huge debts because of the chargebacks and disputes that are filed by the legitimate owners of the stolen credit cards when they see the unauthorized transactions in their credit card statements. Some businesses have entirely lost their ability to accept online payments because of these scammers. That’s because they get excessive chargebacks and unauthorized payment claims, which raise red flags for their banks and merchant account providers.
So, how do you defend yourself against credit card fraud this 2017? Well, the first thing that you should do is to learn about the newest tactics and schemes that are currently being used by scammers and organized crime syndicates to steal your credit card information, other financial details and personal credentials. By doing this, you’ll be able to quickly recognize potential online scams that can risk your credit card credentials and other private details. You’ll be able to steer clear from these risks before it’s too late. You’ll also be able to identify the most suitable strategies, tools and precautionary measures to minimize if not entirely eliminate the chances of becoming a victim of credit card scams.
In the USA, found below are the latest tactics and schemes that are being implemented by scammers and organized crime syndicates for credit card fraud. These are all detailed in the recent scam complaints and Web crime reports that were posted in BigScammers.Com by victims of the latest online scams at the moment.
Latest Credit Card Fraud Tactics & Schemes This Year
- Phishing Attacks – Recently, the credit card accounts of many American users were compromised because of a phishing attack that was launched from a spoofed Netflix email address. This phishing scam was designed to fool users into logging into their Netflix accounts to prevent security breaches by updating their account credentials and payment information. Of course, these are just fake urgency claims and scare rhetoric, which are the main components of phishing scams. After they responded to this fake message by clicking the provided link, entering their Netflix account credentials and updating their private information – They were victimized by credit card fraud. They learned about this a few days thereafter, when they saw unauthorized transactions in their credit card statements.
- Employment Scams – Fake offers for enticing employment opportunities continue to victimize job seekers for credit card fraud. These fake sites are falsely promoted as online application forms that the job seeker needs to fill out. For faster processing and priority job placement services, victims are asked to pay a certain sum of money through their credit cards. What they didn’t know was that these are fake job offers that are only designed to steal their personal details, confidential identity documents and sensitive information. On top of that, their credit card details were also stolen, which many users later learned after seeing illegitimate transactions in their credit card statements a few days after filling out these online job application forms.
Now that you know the newest forms of credit card fraud in the USA at the moment, what you need to do is to continue keeping at pace with the latest news about similar online scams. You can sign up at BigScammers.com to get instant notifications and real time alerts whenever a victim posts a scam complaint or files a Web crime report in the user-generated content repository of this online community. You’ll conveniently receive these credit card fraud alerts in your email inbox. You’ll also be able to access the helpful comments from cyber security experts and online privacy specialists who regularly help out in this online community.
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