With plastic card fraud on the increase, and fraudster finding increasingly sophisticated methods through which to rip people off, it has become increasingly important for cardholders to exercise caution and take steps to protect themselves against card fraud. However, officials from one consumer campaign group have stated that they are concerned over the slack attitudes that many cardholder have when it comes to protecting themselves from this sort of criminal activity.

Officials from Which? have stated that many consumers fail to protect themselves even in the most basic of ways, putting themselves at increased risk of falling victim of credit card or debit card fraud. The group said that many people carry around multiple cards when they go out, which can increase the risks of fraud. Many also choose very obvious passwords for their accounts, which can be easily guessed by fraudsters. Some use the same PIN for all of their plastic cards, which can increase the chances of fraud hugely. Both campaign groups and banks have been urging consumers to take more care over their credit and debit card security.

A spokesperson from Which? said: “There’s a lot more people can do to prevent fraud occurring. Shredding documents and checking your bank statements are a good start, but people need to be wise to basic fraud risks such as using their mother’s maiden name as a password, or shopping on websites that aren’t secure.”

Another official said: “If someone wants to steal your identity it can be possible to discover your mother’s name before she got married. And using just one Pin number for several cards obviously exposes you if you have the details of any card stolen from you.”

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