Watch above: tips on not getting locked out of your bank account while on vacation
SASKATOON – Many of us go on trips, and never give a second thought to having enough money when we get to our destination.
But there are cases of people getting locked out of their accounts by their bank while on vacation – just because it triggers the anti fraud measures in the banking system.
Amie Bregenser is Affinity Credit Union’s Fraud Manager. She told Global’s Morning News that if you are travelling far away, you should always let your financial institution or credit card company know.
“That way it prevents any of your foreign transactions from being blocked, or having a preventative block on your account while you are travelling,” she said.
She also recommends always having a second method of payment on hand, just in case.
At the same time, Bregenser says there does not seem to be any increase in people being defrauded while on vacation.
“Most of the (pin-pad) skimming that happens here, the fraud takes place in foreign locations,” she said. That means if your card’s information gets “skimmed” at home, the information will probably be used to rack up purchases far away – such as another country.
“About 94 per cent of our fraud is foreign right now…so the correlation between travelling and fraud really isn’t there at this point,” said Bregenser.
She has seen trends in fraud come and go over the years, and said right now fraud involving debit cards is down, likely because the chip technology used in Canada makes it more difficult.
However, fraud involving cheques is on the way up – likely because of the new technology that allows people to deposit cheques by taking a picture of them.
“So that technology is having an impact,” she said.
Bregenser said the usual precautions while travelling will go a long way to keeping you safe from fraud, such as guarding your pin number, and keeping a close eye on your cards, and your banking statements.
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