Credit card hacked: signs and first aid

Credit cards are particularly useful for stays abroad. It is all the more annoying when the card is hacked. This practical tip shows you how to determine this and how to proceed in such a case.

Credit card hacked - the signs

Before initiating appropriate immediate measures, the diagnosis "hacked" must first be made.

• You can do this using easily visible features. First of all, it is of course conspicuous if money is missing from your account that you have not debited or used.
• The same applies to reminder notices that you receive due to goods that you claim have not been paid for but have never been ordered.
• A third indicator of your credit card hack may also be the impossibility of paying with the card.
• If your credit card has been stolen, there is of course an urgent need for action.

Credit Card Hacked - The Reaction Possibilities

If you determine one of the scenarios mentioned above, it is important to take appropriate countermeasures as quickly as possible.

• Basically, the faster, the better, because the sooner you prove or report a possible fraud, the higher the chance of getting the money back. It is therefore recommended that you set up a notification for transactions with your credit card, for example via SMS or app notification.
• The first step after that is to notify your bank or credit company of the case, which will also affect liability (see below). You should have your card blocked as a result.
• The card can easily be blocked by calling the blocking hotline 116 116.
• Especially when it comes to larger amounts of money, you should consider whether you should go to the police and file a complaint there.
• In a preliminary final step, make an appointment with your bank advisor and tell him in detail and truthfully the circumstances of the alleged hack.

Credit Card Hacked - Liability

When hacking a credit card, the question of guilt or liability is of course also important.

• In Germany, a distinction is made between liability before a card is blocked and after a card is blocked.
• Regardless, you must report any loss, theft, or suspected credit card or unusual transfer activity to the bank immediately. The basis for this is the duty of care.
• According to the Payment Services Directive, your own liability for hacking your credit card is limited to a maximum of € 150, however the regulations vary among banks - some only charge € 50, others nothing at all.
• The prerequisite for these liability provisions is that you have not committed gross negligence. If you write your PIN on the card with an edding, for example, you cannot count on such a regulation.
• However, this negligence only applies to the period before the card is blocked. As soon as the card is blocked, you are no longer liable. It is therefore important to be able to prove the exact time of the blocking request.
• However, the following also applies here: if the abuse was approved by you as part of a fraud after the blocking, you must be liable yourself.

Credit card hacked - the precaution

To avoid all of these problems, it is a good idea to take some simple precautions.

• Increase the security of your credit card with additional safeguards such as 3D Secure (Verified by Visa / MasterCard SecureCode) or two-factor authentication
• Make online payments only in protected WiFi networks and install a reliable antivirus solution on your computer, e.g. B. Avira Antivir or Kaspersky.
• A little more complex, but all the more effective, is the use of several bank accounts, on which you only "park" your money proportionately.
• If you suspect something, contact your bank immediately.
• In addition, extreme caution applies to fake payment machines. You can recognize these by features that are relatively easy to identify.
• If you insert the card into the payment device e.g. B. a restaurant, it should still look a good third out of the machine and not almost completely disappear into it.
• If you are offered a machine where you "only" have to pull the card through, the plastic edge to the right of the thread should be narrower than the two display edges at the top and left.
• If it is a cheap replica of a machine, the backlight of the keyboard is often missing. The small green LED on the top left above the display is usually not on.
• You can also deduce suspicious elements from the working speed of the card reader. If this exceeds the usual time to read the card, you should be careful and careful.
• This also applies to the absence of a stylus for signing on the card reader display. If this is not available or if the appropriate attachment is such that it is impossible to clamp the pin, extreme caution should be exercised.
• If one of these characteristics applies to the card reader presented to you, you should, if possible, use a different payment method or refuse to pay.
• Finally, you can drastically minimize the risk of hacking with simple steps.
• This includes the use of mobile phone notifications for incoming and outgoing payments, so that you always have an overview of them, the setting of withdrawal limits, so that in the event of a hack at least part of the money is still available, the exact study of Invoices issued when paying by credit card and preventing cashiers or waiters from using your card to move away from you to make the payment.
• If you follow the information above, the risk of hacking your credit card is at least significantly lower.

What you should generally pay attention to when paying by credit card can be found in another practical tip.