The keypads that are used for credit and debit cards are often tampered with by people who wish to steal a retail establishment’s customer data. A common way to do this is for a person pretending to be a keypad repairman to switch the store’s legitimate keypads with their own. The fraudulent keypads send every account number along with the PINs of each debit card through the fraud’s cellular network.
From this point, these frauds create new cards with the account numbers and PINs of stolen cards. The whole process is relatively easy for these criminals to complete.
This is exactly what happened at several Michael’s stores in the United States. Twenty states have Michael’s stores that were victims of this far-reaching, fraudulent endeavor. The customers at these stores now have the uncomfortable task of making sure that no one has used their debit card accounts to make purchases.
The fact that debit card information can be stolen is a concern for people who use these types of cards to make their purchases. For this reason, people want to know if they can still trust debit cards. The answer would appear to be, “No” if one considers what has just occurred at the Michael’s stores, but there are ways that people can protect themselves when they are using their debit cards.
Some debit cards can be used as if they were credit cards. When people make purchases with their debit cards, they can do so without providing their PINs. When the keypad asks whether the card is a credit or a debit card, customers can select credit, and the machine will either not allow or approve the transaction. Those retail establishments that require a signature for their credit card transactions will require this of those who use debit cards as credit cards.
Since credit cards are subject to the same keypads as debit cards, people are also wondering if they can trust their credit cards. Most retail establishments do require that credit card users sign for their purchases. This action makes using a credit card more secure, and it may become the norm again for all retailers to require a signature before they will accept payment by way of credit card. Consumers who would like to be careful may choose to only use their credit cards at stores where signatures are required.
Another thing people can do to ensure that their cards are not being used fraudulently is to inspect their debit and credit card statements very carefully. People who steal card information will try to make a small purchase to find out if the consumer will notice it. If they can make that small purchase without being caught, they move on to the larger purchases that they really want to make. For this reason, people need to make sure that they have made every transaction on their statements no matter how small.
If you are wondering which credit cards are the most suitable for your needs, then you should do a credit card comparison online. By going online to Kanetix Credit Cards, which is an online comparison service, you will be able to see which credit card is most suitable for you after filling out some basic information.