Andy: This is The Secure Family Podcast.
Welcome friend I'm Andy Murphy, the host and founder of The Secure Dad.
This show is all about empowering parents to protect themselves and their family.
I believe that security is the foundation of hapPINess.
I want your family to be safe and happy.
If that sounds like something that resonates with you, subscribe to
the show because there is always something new to talk about.
The information that I share on this podcast is for general
information purposes only.
My goal is to empower you to make safer decisions for yourself and
your family because our safety is our own responsibility.
Today.
I'll share what you need to know to stop credit card fraud and how to respond to it
when it happens to you or a family member.
All of that and more coming up on The Secure Family Podcast.
If you're like me, you're helping your parents navigate
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I am very concerned about their generation.
The phone and email scams are getting too good, too fast, and scammers
are targeting them every day.
Many times scammers buy real information from data broker sites
and misuse it to target people.
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like your real addresses, your work history and family member names.
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So credit card fraud is something that can happen to any of us.
It's when we realize that there is a charge on our account that we didn't
put there, or maybe we get an alert from our credit card company that
we made a purchase six states away.
It can happen in many different forms.
It can be taken in many different ways, and we're gonna talk about all of that.
Plus what you can do to make sure that you act responsibly and
quickly when you get a fraud alert.
First, let's talk about how this happens because you're probably
wondering, did I do something wrong?
And chances are the answer is no.
Credit card fraud can happen to anybody, and certainly you don't need
to feel ashamed when this happens.
Not at all.
I can tell you this from experience because this has happened to me
more than once, and we'll talk about that in a little bit later.
Here are a few ways that bad guys can get your credit card information,
and once you see how complicated this is, you'll understand why
I say you shouldn't feel bad.
So one of the first ways that they can get your credit card info is using a
skimming device at a gas pump or an ATM.
This is when a device is placed over the credit card reader at the gas pump,
and it scans your card data while an unseen camera captures your PIN code.
As you type it in.
In fact, I've done an entire episode on how this works.
If you want to see this completely fascinating process, check out episode
number 313 from February of this year.
Absolutely fascinating.
I. Phishing emails are another big one.
These are scam emails that look like they are from your bank or a
company that you do business with.
I've gotten ones that look like a real invoice from a furniture
store in my state, and it even had the PayPal logo on it.
It, you know, calls me to pause for just a second.
I realized that, you know, I hadn't ordered a bunch of furniture,
but I realized that it was fake.
And regardless, these emails trick you into giving over your
credit card information, your PIN, and even your CVV number.
The amount of social engineering that goes into these emails is astounding.
These scammers do this every day, and this is what they do for a living,
and they're pretty good at it.
Now, seemingly this happens every week, but major shopping
websites are getting hacked.
It happens to big box stores like Target and Home Depot.
I was rolled up in the one at Home Depot sometime, you know, before COVID.
So really.
Your data, your, excuse me, your credit card information, and your
data really is only as safe as the company that's holding it.
We used to be able to trust those companies to do that, but the
attackers against those companies are getting so good at what they do.
It's hard for them to fend off every single attack.
So we may lose our credit card number simply for being a customer at a store.
And then there's everybody's favorite, the data breach.
You didn't know a company had your credit card info, but somehow they
did, and now they've lost it because it was on an unencrypted drive that
anybody could access from the internet.
Fun times.
And of course there's also the classic stolen wallet or somebody using an
RFID sniffer to snag the emission that comes off your credit card.
So there's lots of different ways that your card can be compromised.
And before we go on, let's define what credit card fraud is because it
means a lot of things, and you need to understand that when you work through
this with a credit card company.
So credit card fraud is the unauthorized use of a credit card or credit card
information to make purchases or withdraw funds without the cardholder's consent.
It is a form of financial fraud that can involve stolen physical cards, a hacked
account, or even fraudulent transactions.
So this even means if your kid takes your card and buys
something without your permission.
That also is considered credit card fraud.
So as we can see in 2025, thieves don't even need to be physically
present to steal your card.
They just need the number and once they have that, they are off to the races.
Alright, so let's say that this happens to you and you are a vigilant person
and you spot a charge on your credit card bill that you don't recognize.
Maybe it's a random $5 purchase from a gas station across the country,
or a $300 purchase at some sneaker store that you've never heard of.
In my case, it was actually a surf shop in California.
So you've seen this.
Now what do you do?
The first thing you need to do is not panic.
Remember, this is fixable and it happens every day to good
people, which is why credit card companies have fraud departments.
Very, very large fraud departments, but you need to still act quickly.
So here's what I recommend that you do first, if you can lock or freeze your
card immediately, most card apps let you do this with one tap, and that really
will stop the new charges instantly while still keeping your credit card valid.
Next, you need to call the card issuer, tell them what's going on.
They'll cancel the compromised card, issue a new one, and then they're
gonna start their own investigation.
But make sure, please make sure that you do not Google the
number for the fraud department.
Use the number that's on back of the card if you still have
possession of the physical card.
I know people who have searched online for a number for a credit card
company, and it was a separate scam that preyed on people in a panic.
So unfortunately, Google cannot weed out all of the scams that are
Google ads, so please just make sure you are calling the right number.
Number three, review your recent transactions and
go through them carefully.
Even tiny charges, like a random dollar 50 can be a test
charge to see if a card works.
Many times scammers will do a small test charge to make sure that their
copied card works before they move on to like the $500 charge of Best Buy.
And lastly, change your password and your PIN codes, especially
for your bank accounts and any place where that card was stored.
If you reuse passwords across sites, now's the time to change that.
Uh, I know it's a pain, but it's much better than trying to recover
accounts that you are locked out of.
And there is some good news under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you are only
liable for up to $50 in unauthorized charges, and most issuers won't make you
pay anything if you report this quickly.
In fact, I've never paid for a fraudulent credit card charge ever if I reported it.
So for many reasons, I'm gonna just encourage you.
Act fast.
Don't put this off.
After you report the fraud, your card company will go to work,
and this is usually what happens.
There might be some deviations, but generally this is the flow.
They're gonna cancel your old card and they're gonna mail you a new one.
Now, they used to mail you one overnight, and that is not always the case.
I actually had to wait, I think seven or eight days to get one, one time, so
that could be a problem for some people.
Just keep that in mind.
And if you use Apple Pay for that card, you're gonna need to
delete that old card and then add the new one on when it arrives.
Now, they're also gonna investigate these charges, and they may ask
you to sign a statement saying that you didn't make them, or sometimes
they'll actually ask you that over the phone and record your voice,
and that will act as your statement.
And in most cases, you'll get the money refunded or the charge will be voided.
Now, not all banks and credit card companies are created equal.
All the ones that I've ever worked with have treated me really well,
but that is not always the case.
Some institutions may treat you like a criminal until they know otherwise you
may be guilty until proven innocent.
So if things get frustrating, don't be afraid to escalate.
You could also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
and that is gonna be the cfpb.gov.
Once you've gotten this fire put out, let's make sure that it doesn't reignite.
Here are some practical ways that I have protected my family's finances.
Based on what I've learned, I highly suggest that you
set up transaction alerts.
I get an alert from my credit card app every time we make a charge, even if
it's a small one, It annoys my wife, but I know immediately if something is
off, this is actually how I've caught fraudulent transactions in the past.
And there are times that I will text my wife and say, Hey, did
you just charge something to a website that we don't normally use?
And then she'll say, yeah, this is, you know, for whatever.
She gives a good reason for it.
And it's important we, you do this not to be accusatory in these conversations.
You're just asking for verification so you don't have
to shut everything down quickly.
This doesn't need to lead to an argument about who's spending
money and that sort of stuff.
Just come at it from the point of view of, Hey, this looked weird to me
and I just wanna confirm it before I, you know, shut down our credit cards.
Now you can also use virtual credit cards online.
Some banks and companies let you generate a single use card number,
which is actually pretty cool.
This is more of an advanced technique, but it is an option that's available to you.
Now some of you might have guessed what I'm gonna tell you next, and that is
that you need to freeze your credit.
If you've been following me for the last few years, you know that I am a
major supporter of freezing your credit.
It is easy to do, and after the National Public Data Breach, we
should all have our credit frozen.
And no, this does not affect the use of a credit card.
This just makes sure that no one can open a credit card in your
name without your permission.
This prevents anybody from opening a new account in your name, even
if they have your social security number, and you can do it for free
at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Now while we're kind of on this subject, we talked about passwords,
and I know nobody likes passwords.
Nobody likes remembering them, but reusing the same old password is
like handing out a spare key to every website you've ever visited.
I would like for you to consider now being a good time to go
ahead and get a password manager.
You can look at NordPass, or if you have an iPhone, can use that one
that is just built into the phone.
That's a whole lot better than using password.
1, 2, 3, 4 for everything.
Now what I've covered, these are not overreactions.
This is what the industry says to do.
These are smart protective steps.
By doing this, you're not being paranoid.
You're being a responsible adult, looking out for your family and your good name.
And when this happens, it's important to share what's going on with your kids.
One day they're gonna have credit cards and they need to
be ready for when that happens.
Or they may have credit cards already now.
Impart this life lesson to them, so they know what to do when it happens.
They can follow in your example, and this should be a part of any
discussion about getting a credit card with your kids for the first time.
Now here's what you can tell your kids, uh, to help them understand
how to keep their credit card safe in addition to what we've already covered.
You should never share your credit card number with your friends.
In person or online.
I know you might owe somebody something, but don't share that credit card number.
If something seems too good to be true like a phishing email, well then
it probably is, and that's something that you're going to need to avoid.
And honestly, that's just good life advice.
That just doesn't pertain only to credit cards.
That's just good life advice.
And then always check with your parents before buying anything online to make
sure that you're buying it from a good, reputable website, that you're paying a
good price and all that sort of stuff.
Just like we teach them to wear helmets or lock the door.
This is another part of just raising safe, aware kids in a digital world.
I mentioned my credit card fraud issues earlier, so let me give you a little
bit more background on what happened.
So three years, three different cards, three different
cases of fraud all in a row.
And now that I sit and think about it, I actually think there have been
more cases of credit card fraud.
Other than that, but I just do remember there were three years in
a row where our card was compromised and we had to get new ones.
And that is a real shame, isn't it?
And to this day, I don't know how my credit cards are compromised.
Maybe it was a breach.
Maybe it was a skimmer, but every time I went through the process, locked things
down and I got things fixed and it wasn't a huge hassle, but it was inconvenient
and it wasn't personal either.
That's something that you need to understand in all of this.
When somebody steals your car, chances are they don't know you.
I would say 98% of the time they don't know who you are.
That other 2% is somebody who knows you and has access to your wallet or
your purse, but 98% of the time they've never been in the same room with you.
They never will be.
And this you, it's just a number.
They're going after the number.
They're not going after you personally.
Now because of all of this, my credit is frozen.
I get text alerts and I have built healthier habits to protect not
just me, but my whole family.
And one of the best tips that I can give you about protecting your
card is to use Apple or Google Pay.
This protects your real card and uses encryption and secure practices
set in place by Apple and Google.
So tap to pay.
For today at least, is one of the safest ways that you can pay and I
cannot encourage you enough to do it.
So if you've been putting it off, it's okay.
It's super simple to do.
Put your credit card on your phone.
It's a whole lot safer.
And I want you to know if this does happen to you or if it happens
in the future, you can recover.
You're not alone.
You're not a bad person, you're not irresponsible.
As long as you act responsibly in responding to this,
you're gonna be just fine.
It's gonna be okay.
Credit card fraud is frustrating.
It is stressful, and it feels like somebody has broken into your life
without ever stepping foot into your home.
It's a strange sensation, but now you've got the tools, you've got
options, and when you stay calm and act quickly, you're gonna be in control.
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Try OmniWatch today with a $1 seven day trial at the link in the show notes.
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That's all that I have for The Secure Family Podcast for today,
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I'm Andy Murphy reminding you that our safety is our own responsibility.