ORLANDO, Fla. – A new study by Security.org, a team of product review specialists, found that 60% of 1,000 people surveyed had experienced credit card fraud at least once and 45% have experienced fraud multiple times.
In 2023, 52 million Americans had fraudulent charges on their credit or debit cards, with unauthorized purchases exceeding $5 billion nationwide.
Corie Wagner, a senior industry analyst, tells News 6, “Debit and credit card transactions are more common than cash today. So it gives digital criminals just an ever increasing number of opportunities to commit fraud.”
The Security.org survey of about 1,000 people showed that 60% of them were a victim of fraud at least once, and 45% were victims multiple times.
The survey also found that most unauthorized transactions involve credit cards that weren’t lost or physically stolen. According to the survey, 93% of fraudulent charges involved credit cards still in the owner’s possession. In other words, Americans’ account information is being stolen digitally.
Security.org compiled a list of bad habits to avoid and good habits that people can use to make their financial information more secure.
Bad habits to avoid:
- Using the same credit cards for autopay and everyday spending
- Using the same password for more than one online account
- Storing credit card info in your browser or websites
- Using public Wi-Fi connections or free VPNs
Good habits:
- Review credit card statements
- Subscribe to email/text alerts for my credit and debit cards
- Use multi-factor authentication or face ID to access credit card accounts online
- Use an online password manager
- Subscribe to credit monitoring service
Wagner said parents should consider credit monitoring subscriptions because more fraudsters are “opening up credit cards in children’s names.”
The Federal Trade Commission found 22,226 reports of identity theft victims under the age of 19 in 2023 and 6,979 victims under the age of 19 already through March of this year.