SMARTLAB by Logix

If you haven’t heard already, there is new technology out there to protect our debit and credit cards.  Well not really new; but new to the United States.  Many European countries, Mexico and Canada have been using it for years.  EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) is the global standard for chip-based debit and credit card transactions that ensures transaction security and global acceptance.  U.S. financial institutions have been issuing debit and credit cards with EMV chips since 2015 and Logix is among them.  At the end of 2015, there were nearly 600 million EMV chip cards in circulation in the U.S.

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Fraudsters who use stolen personally identifiable information can perpetrate a wide variety of fraudulent financial schemes, such as hacking online accounts, submitting phony insurance claims, and applying for loans and credit cards to pad their bank accounts. Increasingly, though, identity theft tax refund fraud is becoming a favorite money-making scheme for criminals. The Logix Fraud Risk Management team has seen an increase in this type of activity. With tax season upon us you should be prepared to ensure you don’t become a victim.

Ways to Protect Yourself

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Here’s a way to protect your financial information from crooks. 

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So, the other day while at work, I heard the familiar buzz on my cell phone alerting me that I have a text message. The text was a notification from my Logix Card Manager app that there were two transaction attempts on my debit card at a merchant that I didn’t recognize. For months since signing up for the app, I had been receiving notifications for every purchase I made and would proudly acknowledge the texts for my authorized transactions. And, now I have a secret – I was slightly hoping for the moment that I would be alerted to a fraudulent purchase where I would immediately log into my Card Manager app to close my card and stop fraud in its tracks. Well, that day finally came! As soon as I saw those unrecognizable transactions, I quickly logged into the app and closed my debit card, preventing further fraudulent activity. After doing so, I started pondering all of the places I recently used my card in the hopes of figuring out where the point of compromise was. I started to think about how we have reached the season of scams. While fraudsters don’t sleep and scammers are a year-round predators, the holidays are a time when we are most vulnerable to them. Therefore, this is a good time to revisit the prominent scams that are out there. Keep in mind, that this list is just a preview as scams can take on many forms. For more information on a variety of scams and how you can protect yourself, check out the Scam Alerts section on the Federal Trade Commission’s website.

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