Fraud - would you credit it?Written by Richard Green
Findings from a recent study by APACS show that amount of overseas fraud exploiting UK debit and credit cards has hit a five-year low. However with ID fraud as one of UK's fastest-growing crimes, this should not be a cause for credit card protection complacency. The figures show credit card fraud overseas £92.5m in 2004, which is lowest figure since 1999, and following a £138.4m peak in 2001. This downward trend was largely attributed to improved fraud detection systems which enable card companies to spot unusual spending patterns associated with fraudulent use of cards, rather than recent introduction of chip and pin cards. Sandra Quinn of APACS said "Simple things like making sure your cards never leave your sight, and remembering to dispose of receipts carefully, can make all difference." Holidaymakers need to take care when using their plastic abroad, especially in US, France and Spain, which account for nearly half of fraud against UK cards. Foreign fraud on UK cards now accounts for 18% of total UK card fraud, which reached just under £505 million in 2004. APACS advised that holiday makers should: * Keep valuables safe and out of sight, for example in a concealed money belt * When driving, keep handbags and wallets out of sight of opportunistic thieves, especially in slow-moving traffic and always remove cards and valuables from parked cars * When paying be wary of letting your card out of your sight * When you return home, check your statements carefully for any unfamiliar transactions * Inform your bank in advance that you will be using your card abroad * Carefully dispose of any receipts or statements * Don’t tell anyone your PIN, even if they claim to be from bank or police. * If you have chip and pin cards make sure you memorise your pin numbers * Make sure you have 24-hour phone number to cancel your cards in case they are lost or stolen Source: APACS ( http://www.apacs.org.uk/ )
| | Are you running the risk of an uninsured business? Beware get a “Business insurance”Written by Mansi gupta
Are you running risk of an uninsured business? Beware get a “Business insurance”Human life is precarious and so are activities they indulge in. So it is not just human life that needs to be protected but work that he does - his business etc. that needs to be safeguarded. A business is a living not just for its owners but also for workers and ones benefited by it. Business insurance thus is too significant to be understood in today’s life. What is business insurance? Like life insurance takes care of one’s life, business insurance looks after one’s business. All one needs to do is to select what aspects or parts of business should be secured. This can be comfortably done after one makes an appropriate assessment of his company’s turnover. Since insurance companies provide insurance on basis of company’s turnover. According to turnover a businessman can decide how much he can afford to spend on insurance of sentient (his partners, workers, he himself, main suppliers etc.) as well as insentient (machines, workplace, equipment used, cash transactions from factory to bank, shipments and like). A case in point can be- a dye machine that is supposed to be main machine in a factory and has a high cost price should be insured first. Not just this, worker handling machine should also be insured for if any accident happens with him insurance money will take care of its medical expenses and all. Besides this all heavy machinery, any new machine or plant to be set up, place where business is set up, partners in business, workers who work day and night and all other things whose damage or loss can incur financial burden or even crisis can be successfully insured.
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