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Cards can be the main target of crime, particularly when it has been a mugging or theft by pick-pocketing. Equally, cards can be a very profitable by-product of a housebreaking or a vehicle crime. You can also put yourself at risk by being unaware of the value not only of your cards (on average some £450 is spent by the fraudster on each stolen card) but also of your other possessions. For example, the theft of your wallet, diary, address book and house and car keys may lead to further crimes.
You can reduce the opportunities for thieves to steal your cards by taking the following steps:
- In public places, make sure your bag is secure, on your lap, or the strap is secured by the chair.
- Don't leave your cards or valuables in your car.
- Do not leave coats or jackets containing cards unattended.
- Keep your cheque book and plastic payment cards separate at all times.
- Make sure you ask for and then destroy the carbon copies from all your plastic payment card transactions (or check that your retailer does).
- Don't casually discard your card receipts - they contain information about your card.
- Don't give your card(s) to any unauthorised person.
- Don't give your PIN to anyone and don't write it down.
- Never write your PIN on the card or anything kept with it.
- Never write a PIN down without making a reasonable attempt to disguise it.
- Sign new plastic payment cards as soon as they arrive and destroy old ones when they expire.
- Make sure you carry the card issuer's emergency 24 hours telephone number on your person, in case your bag is stolen. Make a note or your card number as well.
Make sure you inform your bank, building society or other business immediately your card is missing. Banks and Building Societies advise their cardholders to report the loss or theft of their card as soon as possible. Card issuers provide telephone contact numbers which the cardholder can use at any time of the day or night to report the loss or theft. This number is usually printed on the cardholder's statement and is in the 'phone book or can be obtained through directory enquiries.
Card protection schemes give cardholders a single number to ring and the scheme then reports the loss of the card(s) on the cardholder's behalf. These schemes are commercial organisations which are not owned by the banks.
Customers' liability for transactions not authorised by them is limited to a maximum of £50 if the card is misused before the card issuer is notified that the card has been lost or stolen - unless the customer is judged to have acted with gross negligence, for instance by writing a PIN number on the card, in which case the cardholder may be liable for all the transactions.
Remember the card remains the property of the card issuer.
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