Credit card fraud in Europe on the rise?

No.

We just returned from 6 weeks in France and never had a problem. We are careful where we use our cards and they are never anywhere but in our money belt. We use them for large purchases... hotels mostly.Also, we let the card companies know the exact dates we will be in Europe.

My solution: I never use my credit card in Europe unless absolutely necessary.

I just returned from 2 weeks in Germany, and I only used my credit card (actually a debit card) once, in a German Rail ticket automat that didn't take cash. The rest of the time I used cash from an ATM. I get a better rate that way.

Several years ago one of my banks warned me that there was a lot of CC fraud throughout Europe that summer but I've never had a problem.

I also only use my CC for the large purchases such as hotels.

Eli, that's very ironic! European banks have been at the forefront of the new "chip" credit card technology, which was supposed to reduce the incidents of fraud. One could assume that the new technology is not working as well as intended?

As someone else mentioned, I also notify my credit card providers when I'll be travelling, and provide them with a list of the countries I'll be visiting so that the information can be noted on my computer file. So far I haven't had any problems, but I tend to use them sparingly when travelling, and just for larger purchases like hotel rooms and car rentals.

Interesting development......

I have never had a problem in Europe, but, like others I only use it for things like hotel and train/plane tickets, or for an occaisonal splurge meal , I never use if for small purchases, in fact I almost never carry it with me at all, it stays in hotel safe unless I am travelling.

Ironically I have had my ATM card compromised here at home, someone scanned it and took 500 bucks out of my account, luckily bank immediatly closed account( unluckily just after I got my usaul 200 dollars worth of groceries RUNG IN,, and I am standing at the till at my local market( with huge embarrassing line behind me) going "what do you mean my card is not good" LOL) but at least the money was put back by bank!

Well, I certainly have not heard anything much on the news here, and I do read German newspapers, and watch German news programs. Of course I cannot speak for any of the other countries here, but it doesn't seem to be a big thing or everyone would be talking about it. Your credit card company told you this, but is this big news anyplace in the states? One would think if this were so, everyone would be talking about it. Not a lot of secrets anymore in the world of the internet. I think I would do some online research to satisfy my curiosity if this is a concern of yours.

Whether it's on the rise or not, credit card fraud does exist. Often it's not prosecuted the way a mugging would be.

Take simple steps to protect yourself.

Use your card only at established vendors. By that I mean big stores, restaurants, hotels, major car rental companies and airlines. If anything does go wrong, you have recourse and they can't afford to negatively affect their business. Don't use your card to buy a leather purse from the guy on the side of road.

If you're worried, keep your card in sight. In the US there was a rash of credit card fraud associated with waiters and bartenders. By swiping your card through a device on thier belt that looked like a pager, your card information was recorded then sold to a criminal who used the information to commit fraud. You wouldn't notice it because your tab was normal. Only when you received your credit card statement or had a purchase refused because you were over limit would you realize something was wrong. Restaurants and bars created procedures to combat this form of fraud (and I think the banks changed something on the card) so you don't hear about it much anymore.

I've heard some talk about RFID fraud. Someone on a subway might get close enough with a reader to record your card information and commit fraud. Europe is using more RFID chip cards, I'm not sure that anyone here uses them yet. The range is really short, they would practically have to touch the card to get a reading. I've heard about RFID shielded wallets. At this point I think that's overkill. Just don't make it obvious to a criminal where you keep your cards (same as always).

Ken, maybe thats the problem - American credit cards don have the chip, so maybe alot of the fraud is conducted on american cards? Maybe thats the warning to us as tourists.

Yes, take care of your credit cards as mentioned above. But that doesn't help when these savvy crooks use technology to generate credit card numbers and then make duplicate cards! This happened at home! My husband's credit card company notified him right away when they noticed the discrepancy of west coast purchases and east coast purchases within a few hours. Our company seems to be watchful--so it's always a good idea to let the credit card co. know when and where we'll be travelling.

We usually our card at cafes/restaurants, and one of things I have loved about the areas of Europe that I have visited is the practice of using the hand-held machine to swipe your card in front of you at the table. This way your card never leaves your sight.
We also notify our CC company of our itinerary prior to leaving on our trip.

We are extremely careful with the cards and their use throughout the trip.