Use This Tip To Avoid Being Scammed

Many of you already know this, for those of you who don’t: remove your ATM/debit card from the internet completely and never use it while traveling, only use Visa or MasterCard online and while abroad.

I used to use my ATM/debit card online for things like streaming subscriptions, Amazon purchases, Airline tickets, etc… then a buddy of mine had his identity stolen and wound up losing about $50,000 dollars all told. After detailing all the hardship he went through trying to sort it all out and the hit his credit score took, he gave me some great advice, to never use anything but Visa or Mastercard online or abroad.

The reason being is this, if scammers get ahold of your banking information and steal your identity, YOU have to fight it, not your bank. But if they get ahold of your Visa or Mastercard number and make fraudulent purchases with it, your credit card fights it, NOT YOU!

I heeded his advice and immediately removed my ATM/debit card from anywhere and everywhere I had been using it online and replaced it with my Mastercard. If you don’t have a Visa or Mastercard then let me suggest getting a prepaid Neo Mastercard. It has zero fees, your credit limit is however much you put down for a security deposit, payments to your balance are immediate (no 3 to 5 business day waiting period for payments to post if you also get the zero-fee Neo money card which you can etransfer funds directly to from your bank account, and then pay your Mastercard from your money card which posts immediately) which makes moving money around effortless.

Only a few months after doing this I went to Mexico on Vacation. A week or so after getting back I see a charge on my Neo Mastercard for an Airline ticket in Mexico City for $950 bucks. I called Neo right away to report the fraudulent purchase. They immediately canceled my Credit Card, gave me a new virtual CC number that I could use anywhere so that my service was not disrupted, and promptly sent me a new physical card which arrived about 5 days later. They also swiftly removed the $950 dollar charge while they did their investigation so that I wasn’t burdened with having $950 dollars less on my Mastercard to spend. 30 days later I received an email stating that their investigation had concluded that I was not responsible for the charge and the matter was resolved. Easy peasy!

Had that been my bank card that the scammers had stolen things would have gone much differently. Thank God my buddy shared that piece of advice with me, it’s saved me 3 times so far. So if you have your debit card in use anywhere online I strongly suggest you remove it immediately and replace it with a Visa or Mastercard and let them fight identity theft for you.