It feels like summer outside,
but anytime of year it's important
to know what steps to take.
Should you find yourself a victim
of credit card fraud now using safe
credit card practices can go a
long way towards fraud prevention.
And we have even more tips.
It's financial Wellness,
Wednesday and schools first Federal
Credit Union has tips and advice on
precautions you can take to better
protect yourself from credit card fraud.
Schools first Frontbridge branch
manager Tamara Beaver is here
to share what you can do.
Good to have you with this Tamara.
Thank
you, Melissa. It's great to be
here and we got the memo on
the turf we did. We sure did
perfect, so let's breakdown
when we talk about the
definition of credit card fraud.
Is that the same as identity theft?
What should we know?
So, identity theft.
And credit card fraud are different.
Your information is being taken in
with either of these types of thefts.
But with identity theft,
they are accessing your personal information.
So that's your Social Security number.
Your date of birth,
things like that and opening credit
card accounts under your name so
they are assuming your identity,
credit card fraud.
They are potentially authorizing
fraudulent transactions,
so using your card and your funds to
purchase things for themselves. So
it's kind of a scary concept
when you think about it,
you hear about it in the news a lot.
What should our why?
Of viewers due to protect their
credit card accounts.
So with identity theft and fraud,
absolutely a threat to us as consumers.
It's really important that we stay
educated on steps that we can take
a lot of different credit card
providers have gotten some really
smart ways to protect yourself a lot.
They have monitoring of your account
activity 24 hours a day so they
can see and look for anything that
is out of your typical spending
habits and notify you to ask
you if transactions are yours.
Another thing that they do is they have
fraud specialists who are on hand.
24 hours a day so that you can call.
If you do see a fraudulent charge
and kind of work through the process
of getting that charge reversed
and blocking your card to prevent
any future fraud, great
services to have.
So let's talk online shopping which
so many people do these days.
What should we be aware of when
it comes to making purchases
online? Absolutely so online shopping.
I'm a big advocate for online shopping.
I go to yes, guilty as charged.
One of the most important things
you can do as a consumer is not
save your credit card information
in that retailers online website.
And when you do that,
if their system was to get compromised,
there goes all of your information.
So never save your information
on their website and it's also
important to remember that as
consumers we are protected.
There is the fair Credit Billing
act that protects us from fraud.
Depending on your provider,
your liability may be minimal or zero.
If you do fall victim to fraud,
you know a lot of people are
using their mobile wallet.
They're online or Apple Pay.
Is that safe and secure?
What are your suggestions for
that? Yes, so I am a big advocate for.
The mobile wallet for a couple of reasons,
and So what? Mobile wallet is,
it's essentially your wallet in virtual form,
but it has added protection.
So when you use your mobile
wallet at a merchant or online,
your information is encrypted.
When it sends to the merchant,
so they never have your card information.
Another thing is when we think about
our wallet you lose your wallet,
you lose access to everything,
your cards are gone when you
are using the mobile wallet.
Our cell phones are typically
protected with a password
facial recognition fingerprint.
Things like that.
So in the event that you lose
your your mobile phone,
you're protected unless they have
one of those three things of yours,
they cannot access your financial
information and hopefully
no one will be a victim of
online credit theft or fraud,
right? But we know what happens.
What are some of the steps people
should do if they suspect possibly
that it could have happened?
So as a consumer, if you feel like
you've been a victim of fraud,
reach out to your card provider or your
financial institution as soon as possible.
The quicker we work on identifying fraud,
the sooner we can block.
For informations to prevent future
fraud or get you credit in the event
that you were a victim of fraud,
OK, and any last tips for our YO viewers.
Yes, so we have access at our fingertips.
We have real time transactions
that we can watch.
So get in the habit of watching
your online banking or your online
accounts to identify if there are
transactions that you don't recognize.
So monitor your account,
set up alerts on your cards and on your
bank accounts so they can alert you
if transactions are coming through.
That way you can act on them.
Quickly and someone can do all this.
Get this information by coming into a branch.
Absolutely, yes.
So you can come into any one
of our branches and we have
60 branches across California.
I mean, if you're looking for a branch near,
you can always visit our
website at schoolsfirstfcu.org.
Thank you so much,
Tim requires it's my pleasure.
Good to see you.
OK, I feel safer and more
secure now. Good thank you.
See me if you need any guidance.
I'm here for you.
Thank you to camera and if you'd
like some more information,
great tips, visit schoolsfirstfcu.org.