Fighting credit card fraud

By Glenda Garrison
This item appears on page 21 of the May 2020 issue.

In the letter “Watch Credit Card Statements” (March ’20, pg. 24), a subscriber wrote that he handed over his credit card to a waiter in a taverna in Greece for a few minutes and later discovered that a fraudulent charge had been made during that time.

Even though an incident like that cannot be prevented, you can contact the bank that issued your credit card and request that a notification be emailed to you whenever your card is charged over a certain amount or whenever a charge is made online or whenever an international charge is made.

Have an email or phone contact for your credit card, and in the case of a fraudulent charge, notify the credit card company quickly so that the thief does not continue to charge.

If you do report that a fraudulent charge has been made, the credit card company will most likely put a stop on that card, so it’s helpful to have a second card (tied to a different account) as a backup.

GLENDA GARRISON
Burke, VA