In the hotel, in the supermarket or at home on the sofa while shopping online: the credit card is quickly pulled out - and the trip, the purchases or the new sneakers are paid for. Credit cards are practical, no question about it. Unfortunately, however, they are never 100% secure and with increased use, the number of credit card frauds also increases.

What is credit card fraud or credit card abuse?
In the case of credit card fraud, credit card details are stolen or forged and used for illegal purchases. Credit card abuse on the Internet is comparable to the theft of a physical credit card. There are three types of credit card fraud:

1. Card theft

If fraudsters steal your physical card, they can use it to pay immediately - in shops as well as in online shops.

2. Electronic data theft

To shop in online shops or make a booking online, cyber criminals only need the card number, the name of the owner and the check digit.

3. Data theft from credit card providers and online shops
Time and again, Internet fraudsters and hackers manage to steal credit card data from customers on a large scale from renowned online shops or hotel chains. Also take care of sites selling credit cards online. Choose only reliable CVV Shop to purchase cards.

I WANT TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM DANGERS ON THE INTERNET

Is it even safe to pay by credit card? What would the alternative be?
There will never be absolute security when paying by credit card - neither physically nor on the Internet. There are several alternatives: Be it purchase on account, prepayment or payment via a payment service such as PayPal. At the same time, the convenience of credit card payments cannot be disregarded and so it is most important to be aware of the potential risks.

Are there big differences in terms of security when paying with credit cards?
Payment services such as PayPal offer the advantage that these systems are exclusively geared towards payment and the providers invest a lot of time and money to make their respective service as secure as possible. The security standard is correspondingly high. If, on the other hand, I pay at a small niche shop that “also” offers credit card payments, I as a customer have to trust that the shop operator will maintain his system and thus guarantee security. Another advantage that should not be underestimated with payment services such as PayPal is the buyer protection offered. In the case of misuse, the customer has another authority in addition to the credit card provider who intervenes in case of problems.

In some online shops, I also have to enter a code that I receive via SMS. Does that increase security?
In any case, whenever possible, so-called two-factor authentication should be used. This applies to both payment and logins. The additional identification of the user with the second component significantly increases security.

How often should I change the passwords for my favorite online shops?
The question should never be how often do I change the password, but how strong the password is. The strength of a password is defined by the time it takes to hack it. If the password is strong enough, it is sufficient to change it every six to eight weeks. Many devices today suggest extremely secure passwords when creating a new account, thus increasing the security of the login data.

Cardholders often only discover data theft after weeks or even months because they do not regularly check their debits. In many cases, it is then too late to complain about credit card abuse. Banks and credit card providers only have to reimburse the monetary damage if the complaint is made within the deadline set by the credit card provider.