A recent study has highlighted that two-thirds of children are financially active online, spending £448m a year, and four out of five are using their parents' bank cards, online accounts and PayPal accounts.
Unsupervised Internet shopping can put parents at serious risk of cyber fraud because children do not check the security of websites when spending money online. (Source: CPP research December 2010).
Here are a few common sense ways you can protect yourself from card fraud especially if your children regularly use or have used your cards.
Top Tips
- Educate your children about the risks of shopping online to ensure they only put sensitive information into sites that are encrypted, trusted and secure.
- Teach them about what signs to look for in a safe site, especially if they are paying for services online like games, cinema tickets or phone applications. Secure websites use https and not http. If the website is on https you should also see a padlock symbol at bottom right of the screen.
- Make sure you take preventative steps to safeguard your own sensitive information. Signing up to MasterCard's SecureCode, or Verified by Visa, is a good way to help prevent fraudulent card transactions or transactions without your knowledge.
- Remember to keep an eye on your bank and credit card statements to keep track of any unauthorised transactions from your account.
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