5 ways to protect money on a card when making payments on the Internet

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Despite the fact that today a credit card is a popular way to pay for goods and services on the Internet, many still do not fully understand what risks are hidden in its use. I suggest you find out how to secure your money when making payments on the Internet and not fall for the bait of cunning online stores and online scammers.

According to statistics, up to 10% of Americans were victims of credit card fraud in 2013, while the average amount of funds stolen was nearly $ 400.

Of course, this type of fraud reaches such a scale only in developed countries, but developing economies are rapidly catching up with the United States and leading European countries in terms of the number of cards issued per person and are actively transferring salary and pension payments to bank cards. This, in turn, spurs the scammers' interest in new ways of taking money.

So, how to be sure that only you are spending money, and not that guy from yesterday's cafe at the next table?

1. Pay only on verified sites

If you top up your mobile phone every time through the same service and are confident in it (for example, this is the website of the bank where you are served), you should not change it to the first top-up website that appears in the search engine. If you have forgotten the exact address of your favorite resource, try to find or remember it.

There may be fraudulent resources in the top of search engines, and it is quite problematic to quickly and reliably check their security.

I did not report the loss of my bank card to the police, because whoever stole it still spends less than my wife.

2. Make sure HTTPS is available

If the payment form page looks like https:// www.somesite.com, in no case do not leave your card details on it! Even if the store is not fraudulent, any online fraudster can effortlessly intercept your details while submitting such a form.

Sites with a green address bar should be more credible:

In this case, you can be sure not only of a secure connection, but also of who you are paying: in the address bar, in addition to the site address, the name of the company is indicated.

Most of the top online stores, as well as bank sites, already use a "green" secure connection certificate.

3. Check the payment amount on the card input page

Just because you are confident that a payment is safe doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about protecting your money.

Sometimes online stores and services almost imperceptibly add to your order additional services or related products, the purchase of which you have given consent, simply by clicking on the big green "Next" button. Whereas the gray and small link “No, I only want to buy what I have chosen” you did not notice.

Therefore, before entering your card number, make sure that the payment amount and the content of the basket correspond to what you originally wanted to buy!

4. Protect your card from repeated payments

Perhaps, for many, this will not be a revelation, but not only your servicing bank can write off money from the card without your participation.

Almost any paid Internet service can "for the convenience of the client" renew your subscription to their services, automatically debiting the amount of monthly service from your card that you "left" earlier.

See what you agree to when placing your order. In the conditions, there may be a clause on the repeated debiting of money from the card, even if it is not obvious when buying.

Another way to get a paid subscription, which is actively used by Internet services, is a free trial period.

You simply enter the card and you will have “free” access to the selected products or services.

But after the trial period expires, the monthly payment amount starts to be debited from your card until you stop the debiting data by contacting the service support service or through your account settings.

Moreover, the longer the trial period, the more chances that you will forget where you left your card details and will not notice the payment that has come.

In some cases, a free trial can be obtained by using.

5. Keep track of debits from your card

Any modern bank provides access to Internet banking, where you can view all payments on your card at any time.

In less technologically advanced banks, they may take a significant delay in updating, and it may be difficult to access their latest transactions. Therefore, when opening a card, be sure to issue SMS-banking to your mobile phone - informing about each withdrawal of funds from the card in real time.

Thus, you will be able to control both the exact amount of the withdrawal, and in which store or ATM the funds were withdrawn.

The optimal solution for making payments on the Internet is a virtual card, on which you put money in portions, for each specific purchase amount. This way you will be sure that the extra money will not be written off from you, and the fraudster, having taken possession of the card data, will still not be able to spend anything.

Is there something to add? Share in the comments, I will be glad to discuss your tips and life hacks!