Digital India Campaign in India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi resulted in increasing the number of digital transactions in the form of net banking, using credit card or debit card, etc. But do your really think the transactions that your perform with your credit card is really safe? We people spend our lots of time for finding the best credit card for ourselves. But do we ever give a deep thought about the security issue related to it? or do we have try to understand the importance of CVV, OTP or signature in a credit card? Hardly there are few people who give a thought to these issues.
We even heard that news of frauds going nearby us, but never give much importance to it. The reason behind this is that we think our credit card is fully secured and it will never happen with us. Well, in reality this is completely vague and wrong assumption. You never know next time you get robbed because of leakage of your credit card details. So, today in this article I am going to discuss with you shocking credit card myths that can make you bankrupt some day. So, let’s get started.
Shocking Credit Card Myths That Can Take Your Hard Earned Money
Myth 1 – No one knew my Credit Card Password or Pin
In India, whenever we make any payment with our credit card, a PIN is asked to enter to finalize the transaction. This is asked in order to enhance the security of the transaction. This new feature is added recently by Reserve Bank of India. Now you not only need to provide CVV, expiry date and credit card number but also PIN too.
But do you know that if you perform any transaction outside, then you do not require giving any PIN. This means that if someone has ever seen your credit card and knows about CVV, expiry date and card number, then he or she can easily perform the transaction outside India. I know most of the people reading my article do not know this and they are in the view their credit card is secure.
Myth 2 – No one can duplicate my Credit Card
One of the credit card myths is that we think that no can can duplicate our credit card. But this is absolutely untrue. The most shocking part this incident has happen with lots of people and they have lost huge amount of their money.
A credit or debit card has either EMV chips or Magnetic strips. EMV chips are more secure as compared to magnetic strips. So, to be straight forward, if your card has magnetic strip, it can be easily duplicated.
The magnetic strips of the card consists of the all the data related to you. When you swipe the card it verifies all the information related to you. Now what hackers do? They extract all the data from the swipe machine and make a new duplicate card using the cloning technique. Even hackers put a small machine in ATM where you put your card, it copies all the information in the card and then they make a clone of it. You can check various news articles over the internet where you will get various cases related to it.
Myth 3 – I haven’t shared my CVV number with anyone, so I am secure
Well, If you think that no one has your CVV number so you are safe, then hold your breath as this notion of yours is completely false. If you are doing transaction within India, then the CVV will be asked .
But do you know that there are websites outside India, who do not ask for any CVV number. All you need to provide your card number, Card holder name and expiry date. Some countries in the world have made the CVV mandatory and some not. For example, if you buy a domain from godaddy.com, providing CVV is optional.
Myth 4 – The signature on the back of the credit card does not matter match
Another credit card myth among the people is that the signature on the back of the credit card doesn’t matter match. But this is completely untrue. If you do not sign the credit card and you are still using it means it is is invalid card. There used to be an agreement between card issuer and merchant that if the signature on the bill and the credit card matches, then only merchant can allow the card holder to swipe the card on the swipe machine.
In reality, most of the merchants just ignore this important action and allow the swiping. If a credit card with a signature is lost, then merchant would have matched the signature on the card with the signature on the bill and no fraud would have occurred. So, from now, whenever you make any payment, make sure to remind the merchant of his duty and responsibility. In case any fraud occurs, he will be solely responsible.
I hope, from next time, all of you will be very careful while using your credit card on any ATM, merchant shop or malls, etc.
