Credit and debit cards are an easy way to pay for your purchases, and you may feel safer if you're not carrying cash. However, they can be fraudulently used in a number of ways to run up huge bills in your name. Common examples include:

• Theft of the card: It's physically stolen from your bag or wallet, or home, and an impostor pretends to be you to obtain goods or services, or carries out 'card-not-present' fraud (see below);
  
• Counterfeiting (also called 'skimming'): A dodgy employee of somewhere like a shop, petrol station, or restaurant puts your card into an electronic reading device and steals your card details before returning your plastic. The details are then used for 'card-not-present' frauds;
  
• Card-not-present fraud: Details may be obtained from card theft, skimming or going through someone's receipts, or copying down details during a transaction. Goods or services are fraudulently obtained by buying over the phone, internet, from mail order companies, or by fax.

If you think your card is stolen or copied:

• Call your card issuer immediately. The most you will have to pay is 50 quid if a large debt has been run up. In practice, many banks and credit card companies will not charge you at all;
  
• Your card will be cancelled by the issuer. If you still have it in your possession, remember not to use it again;
  
• Check with a credit reference agency such as Experian or Equifax to make sure no fraudulent applications for credit have been made in your name. You can ask them to take incorrect information off your file;
  
• Call CIFAS (0870 010 2091) to make sure any further transactions done in your name are double-checked.

To prevent card fraud:

• Keep your cards and cheque books safe, and do not let anyone know your PIN numbers even if they say they're from the police or the credit card company;
• When paying by card, don't let it out of your sight;
• Only use secure, well-known internet sites when shopping online. Don't buy from sites that don't display a phone number and full postal address;
• Always check bank and credit card statements carefully, and query anything you don't recognise immediately;
• Be super-careful when disposing of bank statements, credit card receipts, and so on. Crooks sometimes go through dustbins looking for these things.

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