Credit Card Safety Measures:

1. Surprisingly, the most common place where credit cards are skimmed (that is: their details are duplicated in order to make further copies of your card) are restaurants, coffee shops, cafés etc. Criminal syndicates employ ' runners ', usually restaurant staff, to skim these cards and these runners are paid for their efforts.

The prime reason why card skimming occurs at these venues is that very often your card has to leave your sight so that the waitron can process your bill at the credit card terminal while you wait at your table. It is during these few minutes that the skimming occurs.

A way of ensuring that this does not happen is to accompany your card and the waitron to the credit card terminal, where you yourself can supervise the transaction and safely retain your card.

Do not be embarrassed to do this, remember this is your money after all and escorting your card to the terminal is a small price to pay compared to the financial trauma you will experience after your card is duplicated.

2. All retail outfits employ a ' floor limit ' for your credit card. Floor limits vary from store to store. Depending on the status of your card and the store in question, these limits can vary from R 5000.00 to greater amounts. Any amount over that limit will result in the retailer having to gain authorisation for the transaction from the relevant card division.

When criminals steal your card, they are very careful to make illegal purchases within these floor limits and thereby not draw attention to themselves. The goods that they buy using your card are thereafter sold to fences and even ordinary people, resulting in a one hundred percent profit for the criminal.

One way of ensuring that you are never a victim of this practice, is obviously to safeguard your card in such a manner so that it remains very difficult for it to be stolen.

Secondly, one should always be vigilant and check that your cards are always safe and in your possession.

Thirdly, in the event that your card is stolen please report the theft to the relevant card division immediately. All the credit card providers provide 24-hour customer helplines where your card can be immediately blacklisted and criminals are thus unable to make use of your credit facilities. Failure to report the theft of your card timeously can result in the cardholder being financially liable for any transactions effected by the criminal. Remember that criminals can only profit from these kinds of practices by selling these illegally obtained goods.

Ordinary individuals such as you and many others should therefore make a determined effort to only buy goods through channels that are legal and above board. No matter how attractive the prices may seem or how persuasive the seller of these goods, please retain your sense of morality by realising that these goods are tainted.In a very significant sense, by being party to such illegal transactions the ordinary individual is actually contributing to criminal activity.

3. Crooked employees of the companies that process credit card transactions telephonically commit another manner of using your card details illegally. When you do call in to make a credit card purchase over the phone, the crooked employee records your details not only for the company in question, but for also for himself/herself and their criminal cronies.

Later, when receiving your statement you discover that there have been numerous other purchases credited to your card at stores or companies that effect telephonic credit card transactions. A sure way of putting a halt to such illegal purchases is to NEVER attempt credit card transactions over the phone.

Credit cards, however, are designed to make our lives far more convenient and if you absolutely HAVE to make purchases over the phone ensure that you are dealing with a highly respected and legitimate company.

4. The Internet is another hotbed of illegal credit card activity. Certain unscrupulous agents ' hijack ' the payment pages of certain websites and the electronic ' money ' from your transaction is diverted to the criminal's account.

Most websites employ highly detailed and sophisticated encryption measures that ensure that their pages can neither be hijacked nor hacked by criminal agencies. You can determine the safety of your online transaction by checking to see whether the secure icon (a little padlock) is visible at the bottom right hand corner of the webpage. The website in question will also inform you via a pop up window that you are now entering a secure page.