Credit Card Fraud Reporting

In 1980, Alvin Toffler in his book, The Third Wave, reported that, "Soon, we will start using digital money". One thing he failed to predict is the credit card fraud and obviously its reporting. When we use a credit or debit card to carry out our transactions, we use digital money. If you fail to take precautions, while using credit cards, it may get exposed to various frauds.

The concept of "value or worth", which we presently express as "money" has always been associated with the concept of "fraud and deceit". As the money changed its form from valuables that can be bartered to precious stones and metal coins, paper money and finally to today's digital form, fraud kept its pace and the chase.

Every year, the credit card companies or credit card services and their customers are losing billions of dollars because of these incidences, which makes reporting a fraud reporting imperative. When it happens to you, reporting it immediately is the only way to limit the damage to your credit and investment. Even though, the credit card fraud penalties are steep (20 years maximum) the greed and thought of fast and easy money drives some people to commit the credit card frauds.

Reporting a Credit Card Fraud
If you find that your credit card account has been charged with amounts for purchases you haven't commissioned, or that you have lost or had your credit card stolen, take report seriously and be done with it immediately. Inform your credit card company and report the credit card fraud. This may prevent it from happening to you or others again. Your report will discharge you of the liability for the deceitful transactions made with your credit card or bank card or an ATM card. If you find yourself in such a situation, take immediate action.

Most credit card companies or credit card merchants provide a toll free telephone number and a round the clock service to help their customers overcome such emergencies. Inform your bank or the credit card company of the fraud, which will enable them to freeze your account. You may choose to change your account number or the credit card number, in order to make them inaccessible.

Once you report the loss of your credit card; lost or stolen, the law says, you are not responsible to repay the fraudulent charges to the credit card company. If you report the loss of you credit card on the same day, second day and third day, your maximum liability in such a case is of $50, $100, $500 per credit card, respectively. If you report the loss after 60 days, you have to pay for every unauthorized transaction amount.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
The FTC exists to prevent fraudulent and unlawful business activities. It provides you with data on how to pinpoint, report, and protect yourselves from such deceitful behavior. In the USA, FTC is the body you can look towards, to report. You can also approach local law enforcements for reporting the fraud. As a rule, FTC investigates reports of fraud above $2000. However, the local law agencies may help you, if you want report a fraud below $2,000 depending on the amount, type of fraud, and the area in which the fraud was committed. If the credit card fraud exceeds $1,50,000 the reporting is done to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation).

Reporting Bogus Charges
If you are in possession of your credit card and find a bogus charge made to your credit card bill, then what could it mean. It could only mean that someone with malicious intent may be using your credit card number, obviously, without your authorization. You may fall pry to this kind of credit card fraud, which is called identity theft, when someone copies your card number, whilst you are using it for your convenience. This emergency demands alerting on your part to your credit card issuer and the local authorities. Before taking action, authorities may demand a signed statement under oath from you, declaring that you are not involved in the bogus transactions in question, but rather it is someone else who knows your credit card number.

Process of Reporting the Credit Card Fraud

The following list summarizes the steps on how to report credit card fraud:

1. The first step is to inform the credit card company. You should inform the credit card company or the bank that issued the credit card in question and request each account be tagged with a fraud alert. Know the name of the person handling your request in the fraud department and confirm your request to freeze your account in writing.
2. Request a copy of your credit report which you can check for accuracy and in reporting discrepancies in it. The following credit rating agencies: Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289 can send you, your credit report. This may help you in setting your credit rating straight, keeping the option of a home or car loan open to you. Be careful, because a bad credit rating may jeopardize a job opportunity that has come your way.
3. Report the credit fraud to your city police. A copy of the report or the report case number may help you in proving your creditors that you have fallen prey to a credit card fraud.
4. Call the FTC's identity theft hotline, which will be made available to all the investigators in the United States. To get advise on how to prevent future credit card frauds, contact the following number: 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338).

The credit cards, business credit cards or student credit cards or secured credit card facilitate your transactions without actually carrying cash and without the money changing hands. With this freedom comes the responsibility of keeping track of your transactions i.e. credit check and reporting to the proper authorities.