With credit card fraud on the rise, it is worth knowing the best ways of protecting yourself from these attacks to you finances, as if someone else starts paying for items via your account, paying back the interest that will accumulate as a result will wipe out any care you had put into being a safe, controlled spender.

In order for someone to abuse your credit card, all they need is the credit card number, the Card Verification Value (CVV) or the Card Security Code (CSC), date of birth, credit card limit, residential address (stored on your card's magnetic tape.) The only way you can really avoid this is by keeping vigilant and heeding to the following tips.

First off, the CSC or CVV number is a security feature for credit or debit card transactions, which aim to give higher levels of protection against credit card fraud. These are not embossed onto the card like the card number, and are a group of numbers that can be found on the same panel on the back of the card as where you would sign your name.

This protects your account as any fraudulent individual who wishes to take advantage of your funds cannot just scan the magnetic stripe details on your card and use them to make purchases over the phone, mail catalogues or internet where the actual card need not be present.

If you are using your card out, keep a lookout that any transactions are carried out in front of you as well as that the person carrying it out does not write any details down. Never provide photocopies of your card to anyone.

The card verification value (CVV) which is necessary for any payments that are carried out online, is also printed on the back of the card. Anyone can use your account for online purchases if they get hold of that information.

To keep safe when you buy things online, it is recommended that you firstly ensure the Web site is secure. This can be achieved by looking to see whether the site is secured by a well known net authentication agency like VeriSign. Do not click on links provided in e-mails that are asking for details of your account, they may well be phishing (the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company ) e-mails from fraudsters, and most companies would recommend you visit their site directly. Just remember not to give out any credit card details to suspicious looking web sites you have no background information on.

If your card gets stolen, or you witness a questionable transaction on your credit card statement, the best step is to call the bank’s 24-hour call centre and deactivate the card, or you can tell the customer service representative about the occurance, who should help you file a complaint. If the card has been lost, check through your transactions and inform your bank of any that have not been made by you. Such a thing should be carried out within a particular number of days to be feasible, which generally varies between 30 and 60 days.