What Is Phishing?

Phishing is a term used to refer to a variety of different types of online scams and cyber attacks in which the fraudsters pose as individuals or organizations in an attempt to lure their victims into divulging sensitive personal information. Cybercriminals have traditionally carried out phishing attacks primarily via email, but they can also use malicious websites, texts, and phone calls to phish for sensitive data.

There are many different types of phishing attacks designed to trick you into giving up a variety of information, most commonly account login credentials, bank account numbers, and credit card details. Scammers particularly target older individuals, who may not be as tech-savvy and aware of online scams, for phishing attacks. Once the scammers get their hands on your sensitive information via a phishing attack, they can use it to make purchases with your payment cards, transfer money from your bank accounts, steal your identity, or sell it to others who will use it to do some or all of the above.

The Most Common Credit Card Phishing Scams Methods

Credit Card Phishing Websites

Cybercriminals often create landing pages that look like they are from your credit card provider and try to get you to click on a link to visit them in order to fix an issue with your card. Once you go to the malicious credit card phishing website, it typically asks you to enter your online banking login credentials, your credit card number, your full name, and other personal information that the scammers can use to steal money from your credit card or even steal your identity.

Though some credit card phishing sites are easy to spot because they are full of errors and look nothing like your card provider’s real website, others are very convincing. Scammers can even clone pages or entire sites, so they are very hard to distinguish from the actual sites, other than by looking closely at details such as the URLs.

Credit Card Phishing Email

Credit card phishing emails are one of the most common ways scammers initiate contact with their victims. They craft emails to resemble official emails from banks, credit card issuers, and other financial institutions to create a false sense of trust. The emails usually masquerade as notifications about your credit card account that require some type of action on your part and ask you to visit a link to provide sensitive personal financial information. Links or attachments in these types of phishing emails may also install malware on your device to steal data from you without you even knowing about it.

As with credit card phishing websites, credit card phishing emails vary in how realistic they are. Some are full of errors and weird wording that make it easy to tell that they are not really from who they say they are, while others are more polished and harder to determine the authenticity of.

Credit Card Phishing Texts

Scammers may also communicate with their victims by sending out fake credit card notifications via SMS text messages. These notifications may claim that your card is locked or that there is some other issue with your credit card, and ask you to reply with your account information or try to get you to click on a link that takes you to a malicious landing page impersonating your credit card issuer’s website.

It can be hard to recognize the difference between credit card phishing texts and real text notifications from your bank because you are unlikely to recognize the numbers they come from. However, banks and other financial institutions will never ask you for sensitive information by texting you.

Credit Card Phishing Phone Calls

Credit card phishing phone calls start with either a person or an automated bot calling you and claiming to be calling from your credit card company, often from the fraud and loss prevention department or another type of credit card security department. They will tell you that there is some kind of security risk with your card, such as suspicious charge activity, and ask you to provide them with details like your card number and expiration date to verify the information and charges.

Automated phone calls notifying you about supposed issues with your credit card are a big red flag because you have no way of verifying their authenticity. If a real person calls you and claims to be from your credit card company, it’s best to hang up and call the customer service number on the back of your card yourself.

How To Spot a Credit Card Phishing Scam

• Look at the URLs of any website claiming to be a landing page for your credit card provider’s website. If the URL does not exactly match your card issuer’s URL, it is probably a fake site. Scammers often change a single letter or add a number to create very similar URLs to the real ones.

• Check the sender’s email address for any emails that appear to be notifications or official communications from your financial institution. Scammers often use fake addresses that are similar to the real ones or totally random email addresses, such as ones that are just a string of letters and numbers.

• Know that your credit card provider will never ask you for sensitive information via text, call, email, or a website, especially if you’re not the one contacting them first about an issue or concern.

• Look for spelling and grammar mistakes in communications claiming to be from your card company. Scammers are often based in countries where English is not the first language, and thus their messages are usually full of things like spelling errors and strange word choices.

• Watch out for anyone trying to urgently get you to take action on your credit card account to fix some kind of issue. In most cases, you won’t know there’s a lock on your card or another problem until you try to use it and it doesn’t work.

Victim of a Credit Card Phishing Scam? Want To Know How To Chase Your Credit Card Phishing Scammer? Follow These Steps.

If you’ve fallen victim to a credit card phishing scam, you’re probably feeling really low, but you don’t have to lose all hope just yet. Many people successfully recover some or all of their stolen funds after a credit card phishing attack, either through a chargeback or another fund recovery method.

For the highest odds of success, the best first step to take is to contact the team of fund recovery specialists at Investment Payback LTD by filling out our contact request form. We will assign someone to your case who will work with you along every step of the way and try every method possible to get your money back from the scammers.

How To Avoid a Credit Card Phishing Scam

• Never give out your credit card details or other sensitive information via email, text, phone, or websites, especially if someone reached out to you saying they are from your bank or credit card provider.

• Don’t click on links or attachments in emails or texts from unknown senders.

• Always verify the URLs and email addresses of any websites or email senders claiming to represent your bank.

• If you ever have any doubts about whether or not a notification about your credit card is real, contact your card issuer directly and ask them if they sent you the notification.

• Mark fake emails as junk and block the senders to avoid future emails from them.

• Block fake numbers to prevent them from sending you SMS text messages or calling you in the future.

• Install ad blocking software and antivirus software on your computers to avoid malware attacks that can steal your credit card info and other data.

• Keep an eye on your credit card activity to make sure you know what your most recent charges are and make sure you’re not already being stolen from.

• Don’t believe anyone about suspicious activity or locks on your credit card account until you check it yourself and see it with your own eyes.