Capital One Tips on Protecting Against Credit Card Fraud

Capital One Canada has reach out to me to share insightful research about credit card fraud. This has become a very sensitive topics in recent years, so Brent Reynolds, Managing Vice President of Capital One Canada, also provided some tips below on how you can better protect your personal information. 

See also: All our posts about Capital One credit cards

A recent study by Capital One Canada has found that Canadians (and millennials especially) admit they aren’t doing enough to protect themselves from credit card fraud. This includes sharing their PIN with friends and family, using personal information like their birthday as their PIN, sharing their credit card number over the phone or via email, and not checking up on their credit report at least once per year.

Key Findings

• 40% of Canadians have shared their PIN with a family member
• 49% of Canadians use the same PIN for multiple cards
• 37% of Canadians don’t rip up or shred their mail or paper statements
• 22% of Canadians have shared personal banking information via email
• 47% of Canadians have shared their credit card number over the phone, via email or mail
• 87% of Canadians do not review their credit report every year
• Canadian millennials are twice as likely (25%) to share their PIN with friends than average Canadians (11%)
• 9% of Canadian millennials have shared their PIN number with a co-worker
• Canadian millennials are twice as likely (10%) to use personal information for their PIN (e.g. birthday, SIN number, name, phone number, address) than the average Canadian (5%)

Tips from Brent Reynolds, Managing Vice President, Capital One Canada:

1. Protect your personal information.

Whether it’s over the phone, through the mail or on the Internet, always know who you are sharing your personal information with.

2. Select a strong PIN and protect it.

Never use personal information such as a birthday, address, SIN number or telephone number as your PIN, and use a different PIN for each card. Cover the keypad when you enter your PIN, and never store a copy of your PIN near your card or share it with anyone.

3. Take advantage of the features your card offers through online and mobile banking.

Many credit cards have features, like alerts and push notifications that can help identify suspicious activity early on. If these options are available to you, take advantage of them.

4. Get a copy of your Credit Report.

Reviewing your credit report can alert you to possible fraud and identity theft. Canadians can order a free copy of their credit report once per year, from one of the credit reporting agencies in Canada by visiting their website.

5. Watch out for Phishing E-mails.

Fraudsters frequently use email to find victims, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Keep your eyes open for grammatical or spelling errors, emails that demand an urgent response, and hover over any embedded links to confirm the website is legitimate. If you have any concerns, contact the company that it claims to be from to verify the email.

Thank you Capital One Canada for recognizing that this has become a major issue by conducting this research. Furthermore, thank you for sharing your findings with everyone! Keep up the great work!