Debit-Card Identity Theft on the Rise: Choose Credit, Not Debit, When Paying

One would not imagine crooks could target their debit card the same vicious way credit cards can be, but more and more Americans are turning to debit cards to pay for their purchases resulting in fewer checks and less cash being used at the checkout counter. Sure, nothing will ever completely replace the old fashioned dollar bill, but credit card and debit card slips are going to soon outnumber the amount of president's faces in America's cash registers.

As the interest of Americans leans more toward the use of debit cards, so does the interest of crooks to steal one's identity. Identity theft has been a problem in this country since the dawn of banks. We see in movies and read in books that even in the old western days there were people claiming to be the account holder when they were not. Yet, it seems we hear more and more about identity theft now. Could it be because it is more prevalent? Perhaps it is because we are more aware of it. Either way, it is a dangerous thing and as Americans are acquiring more credit the motivation of identity thieves grows as well.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that debit cards operate the same as credit cards in many ways, debit cards can lack the same securities. Also, where identity thieves used to target the databases of large companies who held substantial amount of credit card data, we are now seeing these thieves target the smaller companies where the money and resources may not be there to put proper security where it needs to be. That is why it is important to know the difference between debit cards and credit cards. In the case that your information is accessed through database theft, you just might be more protected with a credit card than a debit card.