What To Do if You Give Your Card Details to a Scammer

Did you fall for a scam and accidentally give your card details to a scammer? To protect yourself and your finances, you should lock your card, contact your card issuer and freeze your credit report.

Continue reading to learn what you should do if you’ve fallen for a scam and how you can avoid scams in the future.

1. Lock your debit or credit card

If a scammer has your card number, you need to lock your debit or credit card immediately. You can do this online on your card issuer’s website or by calling them directly. The number is typically found on the back of your card. Locking your card temporarily freezes it and stops further charges, except automatic payments like monthly subscriptions. When you lock your card, you protect your card from being used for fraudulent activity or identity theft.

2. Contact your debit or credit card issuer

After you’ve locked your debit or credit card, you should let your card issuer know about the situation. Tell them that you fell for a scam and unintentionally gave the scammer your card number. The more information you provide about the scam, the more they can help you and protect your money. Your card issuer will cancel your card and mail you a new one with a new number.

3. Freeze your credit report

Once you’ve locked your card and notified your card issuer about the scam, you should place a freeze on your credit report as an extra security measure. Freezing your credit report stops creditors from accessing it and prevents them from approving any new loans or lines of credit in your name. This is important in case the scammer who has your card information steals your identity or tries to commit fraud. You can freeze your credit report by contacting each of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. To unfreeze your credit report, you will need to give each of the credit bureaus proof of your identity.

How to avoid falling for scams in the future

You can avoid falling for scams and giving your card information to a scammer in the future by following these security best practices.

Avoid answering unsolicited calls, emails or texts

Do not answer any calls, emails or texts that appear randomly. Answering spam calls can lead to scammers finding out that your phone number is active. By answering spam calls, you increase your chances of communicating with a scammer and potentially giving them your private information. Avoid responding to or interacting with any unsolicited emails or texts because clicking on any links can result in malware infecting your device and stealing your personal data.

Don’t give out personal information to just anyone

Refrain from sharing your personal information, even if the individual seems to be from a trustworthy company, because scammers often impersonate legitimate companies to gain your trust. Make sure to confirm the identity of whoever you are speaking with before sharing private information, such as credit card numbers or bank account information. In general, legitimate companies will never contact you asking for personal information unless you are expecting a follow-up call or communication.

Be cautious of too-good-to-be-true offers

When communicating with a scammer, you might consider that what they are offering you seems incredible and too good to be true. These kinds of offers can involve a scammer significantly reducing the price of a product or service you are interested in, tricking you into believing you’re getting a great deal. However, by giving a scammer your card information, you will most likely receive no product or service and lose a significant amount of money.

Only use credit cards for online purchases

Avoid using your debit card for online purchases because using credit cards offers better fraud protection. For example, if you accidentally fall for a scam and give your debit card information to a scammer, they will take money directly from your account to use for fraud or other purposes. However, if you give a scammer your credit card information and contact your card issuer, the money that the scammer tries to use will come from the financial institution instead of your account. Using credit cards for online purchases reduces your responsibility to pay back the fraudulent charges, which you would most likely have to do if a scammer had your debit card information.

Use a password manager to log in to accounts

Using a password manager is one of the best ways to avoid falling for scams in the future. A password manager allows you to store and share your login credentials in a safe, encrypted way. Keeper Password Manager has a feature called KeeperFill^®, which will only fill in your login credentials and private information if the URL in your vault matches the website you’re on. This feature helps reduce your chances of falling for a scam, such as a spoofed website designed to appear almost exactly like a legitimate website to trick you into entering your private information. With KeeperFill, even if you click on a scammer’s website, you will know it is not a legitimate website because your login credentials will not automatically fill in.

Keep your card details safe from scammers

Protect your finances from scammers by ignoring unsolicited calls or messages, using credit cards rather than debit cards for online purchases and storing your debit and credit card information in a password manager. Start your free 30-day trial of Keeper Password Manager today to see the benefits of storing your login credentials and card information in a secure digital vault.