RCBC Bankard together with the Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP) recently reminded young professionals to keep their bank information private.

CCAP said that young bank clients and new cardholders should know how to protect their credit card account and be on the lookout for fraud.

Phishing and vishing scams were two of the most common ways fraudsters steal personal information. 

Phishing is a method used by identity thieves to trick credit-card users to provide their personal information. They send unsolicited e-mails posing as seemingly legitimate sources like a credit-card company. They ask for your CVV code, login details and other personal information. Most phishing e-mails hook cardholders by threatening them with account deactivation/cancellation which they can only prevent by validating their account through a link.

“Never click on a link or download anything from suspicious e-mails trying to get account information from you. Always remember, a real credit-card company will never ask for these kinds of information or make you click on a link via e-mail,” said CCAP’s executive director, Alex Ilagan.

While phishing is done online, a vishing scam refers to fraud tactics made over the telephone by criminals to gather personal information. A fraudster poses as a bank employee threatening you to either go through a process where you have to give your personal information or run the risk of getting your account blocked by the bank. 

From the information obtained, fraudsters can not only use your credit card, but they can even take over your account.

Upgrade modus

Another scheme is the upgrade modus where fraudsters pretend to be credit-card employees who offer to upgrade your credit card, asking for your personal information in the process. They will eventually ask you to surrender your card. 

These schemes can sometimes be convincing and feel so legitimate that you would not think anything untoward is ongoing.  

CCAP strongly advises cardholders against divulging their credit-card numbers, online passwords and most importantly, the last three digits at the back of their credit cards. 

Be sure to memorize the Personal Identification Number (PIN and destroy the mailer on which it was sent. The same is advised for one-time-passwords (OTP), which are valid only for one transaction or session on a computer or other digital device, must never be shared with anyone.

Ilagan, also tells cardholders to never respond to fraudulent e-mails especially those requesting for confidential account information. 

“If you’ve received any e-mails like this or responded to one already, please contact your bank issuer immediately,” he said. 

As for the scheme of fraudsters to fool people into upgrading a credit card, CCAP said that credit-card users should never surrender their credit card to anyone for whatever reason. 

“Your bank issuer can provide all the necessary services you need such as balance transfer, card upgrade or replacement, increase in credit limit, without getting your credit card. Taking care of your demographic information is one of the strongest protections against identity theft,” CCAP added.

It’s also a good rule of thumb that when dining or shopping, cardholders should always personally hand over their card to the cashier and take note of the length of time before the card is returned.  CCAP advises that no matter how short of time cardholders are, they should still always make sure to check if the amount printed on the transaction receipt is the actual amount of purchase before signing it. 

Source: BusinessMirror