“We accept credit cards”
The phrase “We accept credit cards” is one you must have encountered many times in various stores, grocery stores and other stores. This phrase is usually accompanied by some kind of sticker (Visa/Master Card, etc.). Credit cards have changed businesses and our lives to a great extent. A few years ago, only a few stores would accept credit cards, but today you will find that most stores do. In fact, some stores (such as those belonging to large retail chains) not only accept credit cards, but offer them as well. When you use these credit cards at any of the stores in that retail chain, you are entitled to a rebate.
With the advent of credit cards, many people no longer carry any cash with them, or carry very little cash. This means that any store that doesn’t accept credit cards is at risk of losing customers. In fact, this is one of the reasons why almost every merchant accepts credit cards.
With the growth of the Internet, the credit card industry has taken a new turn, and with it e-commerce and e-shops. As a result, those labels that say “we accept credit cards” have been moved to the doorsteps of Internet stores. Thus, the era of accepting credit cards (directly or indirectly) in almost every online store came. In fact, this is the basic premise of the entire online commerce industry. It is the most convenient.
Fraud is associated with almost every financial instrument. Therefore, fraudsters have also emerged who also say “we accept credit cards”. These fraudsters use a lot of techniques to commit credit card related fraud. Some of them disguise themselves as online merchants who accept credit card payment methods (the actual motive is to extract critical credit card information). Others are people who work at merchant stores that accept credit cards. These fraudsters either clone credit cards or simply write down key credit card information (and use it to make purchases online). Still other fraudsters lure innocent people into revealing credit card details in chat rooms. There are also tech-savvy fraudsters who use computer programs/software/devices (called spyware) to spy on people who use their credit cards to make online payments. The spyware captures their credit card information and uses the Internet to transmit it to the spy.
So many merchants and service providers do accept credit cards, but keep in mind that fraudsters also welcome/accept credit cards. This is something you definitely need to be careful of.