A couple of (easy) ways to protect your money in a digital world:
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1. Use a credit card, not a debit card. Most credit cards come with protected against unauthorized charges on your account. You will not be responsible for a charge that you did not authorize, online or otherwise. A debit card does not offer the same opportunity, any charges applied to your card are directly withdrawn from your funds in your (banking or savings) account.
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2. And to help reduce the risk of credit card fraud, most offer alerts to provide you with account activity quickly.
Some people think credit cards are dangerous. But you can find a card that works best for you. If you are afraid of ‘overspending’ set your credit limit low, just enough to support your monthly normal charges. Or you can keep more than one card – one for every day spending and another for extra large purchases. Also managing a credit card (with on-time payments) will help improve your credit score.
Last night a group of us went out for a ladies night. The bar was hopping and we all had fun. I had given my credit card to the bartender so that I could keep a tab open for my drinks.
Like I said the bar was crowded and there were multiple bartenders serving our group. When time came to cash out our tabs, we all received (inaccurate) checks. It took a couple of minutes to sort out who owed what. The bartender re-rang the checks and gave us the new totals.
My tab was small, only $22. When he handed me the bill my credit card was not with it. It took the bartenders more than 10 minutes to find the credit card I handed them when I ordered my first drink. The bar was crowded, but I sat in the same bar stool for most of the night.
One of the girls (Holly) commented to me to check my card when I got home, something fishy many be going on since they had to really search for my missing credit card. I told her I should be okay, I get alerts on my phone each time there is a charge on my card.
Ironically after everything was settled, it was Holly’s debit card number that was stolen and her account was drained. She didn’t know this until the 12 hours later when she was using her card to buy groceries the next day.