You see them all the time, but you’re definitely ignoring them. We’re talking about those small chips on your credit cards, which, surprisingly, can actually fall out and be used by someone else, in order to access your credit card info!
According to a report from ABC News, this can happen pretty often, due to the way we store our cards. And this goes for all types, including travel rewards credit cards or cash back credit cards!
Take a look at your credit cards from time to time!
“They are on there pretty good, but a lot of wear and tear can cause issues with the underlying glue,” said, Shawn Kanady, from cybersecurity firm Truswave. Basically, if the chip falls off, the card is compromised.
A lot of users don’t even notice if their chips fell down and, if the little piece with information is found intact, it can even be placed on another card! However, there’s no need to worry that much about this, since broken cards are very rare, not to mention that they can quickly be placed by their issuers.
“Chip cards are the most secure physical cards in the 40 year history of the plastic credit card,” said Jason Oxman, CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association. He also noted that it’s very important that “consumers have zero liability for fraud and are protected, even in the highly unlikely case that their card breaks.”
Card issuers can help you solve this immediately
However, if something like this occurs to you and you notice is, make sure you call the issuing bank as soon as possible. And this should be done if you have any other type of concern about a card!
As for banks, they advise customers to check their accounts frequently, in order to detect any unusual activity. Finally, if they are victims of a fraud, they have zero liability, if the issues are reported right away.
