Back to: Security for your card

There are many different forms of credit card fraud. At its simplest, someone obtains your credit card details and uses them over the phone or on the Internet to make purchases in your name. At the other extreme, a person can assume your entire identity and open bank accounts, obtain credit cards, get loans, even put in tax returns in your name.

Thieves get your personal information in a variety of ways:

• Losing your wallet or having it stolen: Your licence, ATM cards, credit cards, and Medicare cards together provide a large source of personal information.
• Home burglary: Thieves aren't always simply after cash, jewellery or electrical appliances – personal documents may also be taken.
• Letterbox theft: Credit cards, ATM cards, bank and credit card statements, cheque books (even pre-approved credit card offers) can all be simply removed from an unlocked letterbox. Often the intended recipient wasn't expecting the item and remains totally unaware.
• Mail diversion: A thief uses a false identity to fill in a "change of address" form.
• Rubbish theft: Thieves target either your rubbish or that of companies you deal with, retrieving valuable details that could enable identity theft.
• Computer hacking: Either your computer is hacked into or that of a company you have had transactions with.
• ATM / EFTPOS fraud: Your PIN is either observed by a person in the queue or monitored by a hidden "skimming" device.
• Skimming during use: While using your card at a legitimate business, its details or actual encoded magnetic strip are copied by a dishonest employee.