What if someone knows my credit card number

Breaking into mailboxes and stealing bank statements or other personal information can let a criminal conduct identity theft. If an unauthorized person has access to your debit card information, report it immediately to your financial institution.

Card details — card number, card holder name, date of birth and address — are stolen, often from online databases or through email scams, then sold and used on the internet, or over the phone. This may include mandating a Security Number be input. Therefore, it is important that you contact your issuer in the event you do not have a Security Number on your card and request what data should be entered if you are prompted for a Security Number.

Keyloggers — Another common way that a thief can get your credit card number is by installing a key logger on your computer without your knowledge and record every keystroke you make, including credit card numbers and security codes. You can: Check with Amazon the address linked to the Merchant Number and the reference on you bank statement, In turn they should be able to give you the bank that it cleared through.

Find the name of the account holder and inform Amazon to see if payment was accepted. Some bank services allow you to make cash withdrawals from participating bank ATMs without having to use your physical cards or PIN. No, it should not be given to anyone in any case except, when you gave the authority to someone to do the online transaction on your behalf. Card number, CVV number, expiry date and debit card pin should be kept confidential, always. Any issuers discussed on our site are vetted based on the value they provide to consumers at each of these levels.

At each step of the way, we fact-check ourselves to prioritize accuracy so we can continue to be here for your every next. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.

Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy.

You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.

We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories.

Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. This content is powered by HomeInsurance. All insurance products are governed by the terms in the applicable insurance policy, and all related decisions such as approval for coverage, premiums, commissions and fees and policy obligations are the sole responsibility of the underwriting insurer.

The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way. While the introduction of chip-and-pin technology made it more difficult for someone to use a stolen credit card for fraudulent transactions in person, hackers tend to be endlessly creative when it comes to theft. The reality is, there are plenty of ways thieves can get their hands on your credit card account numbers, which they can easily use to make purchases or wreak other types of havoc using your name.

A stolen credit card or account number could also be one of the first signs of identity theft, so keep an eye out for credit card fraud and take steps to mitigate the damage if you find any. With your physical credit card no longer the typical target, you may be wondering how hackers and thieves can get their hands on your credit card number, to begin with. There are plenty of ways this can happen, including the following:. Phishing emails may look official, but these fraudulent messages are crafted with a nefarious purpose.

Most phishing emails try to get you to click a button or link that takes you to a familiar-looking fraudulent site to enter your account information. Another common phishing tactic is to provide an urgent and entirely bogus reason that you need to call a company, like your credit card company or Social Security office.

If someone has access to your information, such as your date of birth, banking information and even your debit card number , they can perform a number of illegal actions under your name.

And you must take appropriate actions to stop the threat right away. If an unauthorized person has access to your debit card information, report it immediately to your financial institution.

A t oll-free number should be available hours a day for you to contact. These lines are specifically created for such circumstances.

As soon as you realize an unauthorized person has your debit card number and you have contacted your financial institution, review your transactions. You can often do this over the phone while communicating with your bank or you can do so through online banking over the Web or using your bank's mobile app.