| You think you may have misplaced your card and it | | | | card, go to the department store and use the identity |
| may possibly be at home somewhere. You do nothing, | | | | information they managed to steal and also make |
| thinking you will come across it. Then you quickly | | | | purchases there as well. This is the time to protect |
| realize that this is not the case when your credit card | | | | yourself. An important paper that you should have on |
| bill comes in and there are charges that you could not | | | | hand is all your credit card numbers, telephone |
| have possibly made because your "card is in the | | | | numbers to call to report a lost or stolen card, all |
| house somewhere." Though this is the worst case | | | | department store telephone numbers and any other |
| scenario, this does happen very frequently. Once your | | | | numbers that may be important to protect your |
| bill arrives and you see the unauthorized charges you | | | | finances and most importantly, your identify. |
| should be on the phone immediately reporting credit | | | | So to summarize, first you should have the telephone |
| card fraud. In today's poor economy, criminal acts are | | | | numbers of all the card issuers and/or department |
| becoming more of a problem. | | | | stores on paper and placed somewhere safe but with |
| At the first sign of not having your card available to | | | | easy access. Most card companies have an 800 |
| you, whether you think it is somewhere in your home | | | | number to call 24 hours a day to report a lost or stolen |
| or not, you should definitely be reporting credit card | | | | card. While you might think this is a lot of trouble at the |
| fraud and calling all the businesses where you might | | | | time, it is so very worthwhile. You must protect |
| normally use it. Another form of credit card fraud is | | | | yourself at all times. Take the time to write all these |
| what they call application fraud. The perpetrator uses | | | | numbers down, keep them in a place to which you |
| your credit card information to apply for loans, buy | | | | have quick and easy access and get on the phone |
| cars and can make huge purposes. You must also call | | | | immediately to report the crime. In the long run, it will be |
| any department stores and report a possible stolen | | | | well worth the short time it takes to do this for yourself |
| card to them as well. The criminal can take your credit | | | | and future potential victims. |