Tips for avoiding online fraud

Last Modified 16th of February 2021

There are thousands of people who can claim to have been victims of fraudulent activity after having their details used by criminals online. Banks are doing all they can to prevent such things from happening and their methods tend to cure the problem, but the criminals are also constantly finding new ways to steal your money and will always be a threat.

One growing way to help eradicate this worry from your mind is a process used by such companies as Paysafe who can offer a service where your details are left completely anonymous because you don’t use them during a transaction.

This is a process where a voucher is bought from your local shop that accommodates such a service and you receive a code that relates to an amount of your choice that can be spent online. This helps save money on top of being safe, as you can only spend what is available on the voucher and so curves overspending when shopping online offers too many temptations.

To spend the voucher, the code is simply imputed as you would with your card details and the transaction goes through as normal, but in this case no bank details have been shared and there is no chance of being at risk of criminal activity with the process keeping anonymous. Such a mode of spending can be used all over the internet and doesn’t stop with just shopping. It can also be used for online betting, entertainment, charities, even Skype and Facebook.

This concept of ‘electric money’ is music to the ears of those that are still uneasy about the whole idea of using their bank cards online and after so much publicity on people being victims of online crime, it’s no surprise.

Of course, not everything is risk-free and online vouchers should still be used with caution, especially where you spend them. Be on the lookout for scams that are after your money, but use a façade that is aimed at pulling in naive customers.

Such ploys could look offer promises of money for very little effort on your part, emails with bad grammar or spelling that are asking for money in return for something, deals that sound too good to be true and threats of bank account closures or similar.

Make sure you are only spending these vouchers at registered websites that acknowledge the type of voucher you are using and it is imperative that you never ever hand over the voucher number over email or the telephone.