The money is plastic, and for now, it seems, the future. In a society where we all have less money in tough with us and we paid people, giving them information, that information can be used against us.

According to the industry group APACS: “The figures show that the number of adults shopping online has more than doubled in the last five years to nearly 30 million. This makes it more essential than ever for online shoppers take the necessary steps to ensure that they are not victims of fraud. ”

We all like to think of debit cards, such as the safe choice, and said they will help us to maintain our debt under control. A debit card is linked directly to our bank account while a credit card allows us to “buy credit and pay later with interest, and none of us wants to have secured a loan for a credit card. Not Yet A credit card may be the safest way to shop.

Say for example you’re in a store and you pay the man behind the counter with his credit card and use a machine to clone the card and keeps a copy of what he wrote in the pin pad. He used that information to make purchases in the execution of a large debt on its behalf, it is likely that an unknown until you receive a statement. At this point, explain to the credit card issuers what has happened, to launch an investigation and to recover their losses through insurance or legal action against offenders. With a credit card are protected against the costs of fraud. Debit cards, many of us assume, carry the same protection as credit cards, but we were wrong.

Depending on your bank can not be protected in any fraud that occur with the card. This means you may end up having to live with the consequences of stolen money. Even if they are only reimbursed the money, the process takes time and there is no grace period in which they assume the post never happened. If you take all your money, this leaves you very vulnerable.

Never was this lack of protection on debit cards as well as the Christmas period exposed more than 2,500 families have been scammed hundreds of pounds and the only people who pay by credit card refund.

The monitoring program of the BBC reported: “Area Electronics, a company based in Oldham, guarantees delivery of the [Nintendo Wii] console in mid-December, hundreds of people placing an order and paid your money out. The payment was made, but never reached its Wii consoles.

“The website of the company closed, with a message that would not be able to send the orders.”

During his research revealed that people who buy the console with their credit cards make sure you have their money returned, but “customers who bought with debit cards may not get your money back. Debit cards are not automatically in the same way, and customers will have to apply for their card issuer for a refund. ”

Card fraud has been fought by the card issuers and the Government, the minister Vernon Coaker said: “Fraud is not something that can be tackled in isolation – the best results can be obtained only by working together. The Government takes fraud very seriously, if the victim is one of several million pounds to a single person or organization. This is why we provide over £ 1 million a year, accompanied by the Corporation of London, City of London Police to expand its Economic Crime Department to tackle the problem. Tax fraud and to better equip law enforcement with a modern legal framework. ”

Believed to have made some progress in combating fraud. “These latest figures show that fraud in the industry are making efforts for its brand. However, each of us can also help defeat the fraudsters, and protect our cards and online accounts, keeping our PINs, passwords and personal information safer. “