How to protect from credit card fraud

By Kshitij Anand

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - With easy access to credit cards and the Internet, it's no surprise more and more people are paying their bills online. It's easy, convenient and it beats standing in the queue.

Unfortunately, with people increasingly swiping cards for groceries, movie and plane tickets, chances of their being misused are much higher.

Data from the Reserve Bank of India says 12,959 cases of fraud were reported from various banks last year, accounting for a loss of 365.4 million rupees.

Chances of fraud increase if the customer has more than one card.

"Surveys and research have suggested that the number of customers carrying more than two plastics is rapidly increasing," said Gagan Maini, CEO of Card Protection Plan, India.

Carrying more than one credit card can also be tiresome -- it's difficult to remember bank account details for one card, let alone two.

There is no doubt the market for credit cards is growing fast. And they do come in handy while travelling abroad -- it's really convenient to pay your bills that way than carry cash or traveller's cheques.