Payment Frauds

Like most people, I have credit cards, debit card, and a checking account accessible by electronic means. Shopping online is a convenience enjoyed by many and needed by a lot of people with limited mobility. Elders certainly fit this bill, but so do many others with disabilities, illness as well as healthy people living far from shopping areas. I will soon do grocery shopping electronically because it avoids getting in an out of the car, loading a shopping cart with goods, and then loading them into the car and unloading them at home. Soon I will order online, the store will gather the goods and notify when I can pick them up by car, their staff loading the goods into the car. So much activity saved and risk of falling avoided.

The risk, of course, is inviting fraudsters to access my payment information and debit/credit cards. This has occurred with me five times in the past 3 years. Always the debit card, but one credit card questionable. The credit union and I agreed to replace the cards immediately to stop any possible frauds. And, interestingly, my checking account had an attempted hack that was caught. This caused the credit union to kill my old account and issue a new one. So, four debit cards, one credit card and a checking account hacked. To me this seems excessive.

Of course, I wonder what I could do to lessen this activity. The only thing I can think of is to stop all internet shopping and payments. I hesitate to do that because past shopping has been successful and valuable. I have achieved some great deals over the internet without any problems.

Who else has had similar experiences to mine? Any suggestions on how we can avoid these pitfalls in the future? This is a serious request for advice. Please help me!

August 22, 2025

 


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