Bank card scams can affect many people. It doesn’t matter if you buy a lot online, if you use it rarely, if you have several… Actually, just using it once in a bad place can be enough for them to steal your money. Therefore, we are going to show you 3 essential points that you can take into account to avoid problems and protect your bank card as much as possible. It’s something you can do no matter which bank you use.
If they clone your card, they could make fraudulent payments. They can also steal data when you make a purchase online, through a malicious page or on an insecure network, as well as make charges that do not correspond. Having control, setting limits and adjusting security issues will be essential.
Protect your card
Card payments are secure, at least if we speak in general terms, but there can always be some vulnerability, error that we make or factor that we do not control and that could cause the data to be stolen. You can always reduce the risk and protect yourself against attacks of different types.
Disable magnetic stripe
A very useful tip is to disable the magnetic stripe on the card. It’s what they can use to clone your card and make payments as if it were really you. Most banks have this security option, so you can disable it and, at least for that part, protect your card.
Keep in mind that nowadays payment by magnetic stripe is practically non-existent. You won’t need it, at least in Spain. What’s more, MasterCard has already announced that its new cards will soon come without this magnetic stripe that has become obsolete.
set limit
Another important recommendation is that you set a limit on the card. You can set that limit to withdraw from the ATM, buy in physical stores or online. This will protect you in case someone steals your card and makes a fraudulent payment, since they will jump that limit and will not be able to steal more than that amount.
Also, if you need to make a larger one-time payment, you can always go to the bank’s app or website and increase the limit for a while. You make that payment and, later, you lower the limit again to always have that extra protection and avoid security problems.
Activate geolocation
This feature will prevent them from using your card in certain places. Ideally, if you want maximum protection, you only allow card payments in the country you are in. Of course, if you are going to travel abroad you have to remember to deactivate this feature and not have problems.
Other banks even go further and offer geolocation based on where you have your mobile (where you have installed the banking application). For example, if your card is stolen and you try to make a payment 500km from where your cell phone is, they would reject it since it would be suspicious. It is something that is not available to everyone, but it is a good idea.
In short, these are some options to protect yourself against bank card theft. The objective is to reduce the possible damage as much as possible. Being prepared for eventualities of this type can be in your power simply by making some changes.
