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Sunday, April 27, 2008

Protecting your Credit Card against Internet Fraud

When you handover your Credit Card at Petrol Pumps and Restaurants, your Card Number, CVV Number (3 digits on the reverse of your Card) and Expiry Date can easily be noted down and an Internet transaction executed on your Credit Card. To reverse this charge you will need to raise a chargeback which is a painful 45 day process.

Here is an important tip which you can use to prevent these fraudulent transactions on your Credit Card. As soon as you receive your Credit Card, please delete or scratch out the CVV number on the reverse. You can memorise the same or store the same separately for personal use. This will ensure that no Internet transaction can be authorised on your card in the absence of your CVV number.

However, if you do observe any erroneous transactions on your Credit Card please follow the directions given below.
1. Check if you have your physical card as you may have lost it a few days back and not realised the same
2. Call the call centre and block your Credit Card, or you can do the same online if your Net Banking Permits you to do so.
3. Register your erroneous transactions with phone banking and ask them to process a chargeback. They will give you a temporary credit to you and will ask you to fill a dispute form post which they will initiate an investigation into the transaction.
4. Download the Transaction Dispute form from the website and fax / mail it to the bank. Please remember to confirm that the bank has received it. In the case of Internet Banking Transactions as the fraudster does not have your mailing address and other details which are requested the decision is expected to go in your favour. However, please contact the bank for an update after 45 days.
5. If the verdict is in your favour, the temporary credit becomes a permanent credit; else the amount will be redebited to your Credit Card.
Hence I reiterate, to avoid going through this long and painful process, it is better to delete the CVV number from the back of your Credit Card and memorise the same. In case you forget you can always reissue the Credit Card and get a new CVV number.
You can feel free to write to me on topics pertaining to Personal Finance at Ask.Pranav@Gmail.com and I will reply to your queries within 48 hours.

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