In Hamden, Ontario 24 year old Islam Salha was charged with several counts of fraud, 19 counts of identity theft, and possession of a credit card copying machine. He worked as a assistant manager at a Shell gas station located in Hamilton, Ontario and was using a device that authorities and criminal call a "skimmer'.
Islam Salha worked at a Shell Gas station and would use the skimmer on unexpecting customers who would come into the convenience store to purchase gas or snacks. The skimmer was a hand held device and he would run the cards through when the customers weren't looking.
Unfortunately scams like this happen very often, and there are certain steps that you can take to avoid these and other scams. There are several ways a thief or criminal can get a hold of your sensitive financial information and use it against you. Here are a few suggestions in order to avoid fraud:
1. Safe credit card keeping. This is probably the number one most important safety precaution that your can practice in order to avoid credit card fraud. Keep your cards close to your body, in a purse, or wallet, and make sure you hang onto to those items closely and be cognizant of where your personal items are, and who is around you.
2. Keep an eye on your card during the transaction. This is a tip that the victims in Hamilton, Ontario probably could've used this advice. The point-of-sale transaction is where hundreds of thousands of credit card debt happens, so it's imperative that you keep an eye on your credit or debit card when the actual card is swiped and try to get the card back as soon as possible.
3. Keep your receipt. It is also important to keep your receipts so you can compare it with your billing statements. In regards to your receipts it's important that you avoid any incorrect receipts, make sure you iron out any mistakes on your receipts as soon as possible.
4. Get in the habit of using that shredder.
There are a lot of thieves that rummage through the trash looking for thrown out receipts with credit card information on it. There are many thieves that will look through your trash and look for anything that they can use to steal your identity as well, so it's a good idea to shred any documents that have your personal information vs throwing it out in the trash.
5. Use discretion with online transactions.
The less you put your credit card information out there the better, and only use your card for transaction that you are 100% positive legitimate.
Your email inbox is another cesspool of scams and fraudsters so make sure that you never click on any link claiming to be your bank, credit card company, or any other business. If you suspect something call the organization that supposedly emailed you and correspond with them directly, but under no circumstance should you click on random links in an email.
6. Look closely at your billing statements.
Making sure that your reconcile your credit card statements with your receipts is not only imperative to avoid credit card fraud, it's always a smart move to-at least-peruse your credit card statement looking for discrepancies.
It's important that you keep a close eye on everything when it comes down to your credit cards; you have to be vigilant when it comes to your credit cards and your personal finances.
CCC is a consumer credit counseling agency that is focusing on spreading financial literacy throughout the US. Their credit counselors have been helping consumers get out of debt for over 20 years.
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