More than Rs. 30 crore skimmed off Indian credit card users over months.

Over the last few days it has come to light that a global syndicate has been skimming Indian credit card users for the last 2 months. Several cases have been reported where people’s credit card bills and registered mobile numbers have shown fraudulent and unauthorized transactions. It is believed that the total unauthorized transactions so far amount to more than Rs. 30 crore.
Bankers believe that the stolen credit card information has been gathered via compromised retail outlets and stores. Such stores possess card swiping machines which can be skimmed by hackers to reveal the details of all cards that are swiped through them. Once the card information has been gained, it can be utilized to carry out fraudulent online transactions or the card itself can even be physically cloned.

With that in mind, here are some useful tips for credit card users:

When carrying out a transaction in a retail store or restaurant, ensure that the card is not taken away from your view. If this is not possible, use cash instead.
Do not use your credit card at every retail store that you visit.
While using an ATM, ensure that the machine does not seem tampered with or rigged. Also be aware of any suspicious activity or person around you.
When carrying out an online transaction, use the virtual keypad to enter your card number and other details.
Ensure that your mobile number is registered with your credit card so that you receive an SMS every time a transaction is completed.
Install an effective anti-phishing software on your computer especially if you carry out online transactions

In good news, domestic portals in India are better equipped to deal with such cases. Online credit card transactions here require the buyer to give his name, card number, expiry date, CVV number and his online banking password. For international transactions, the online banking password is unnecessary. However, this also means that fraudulent transactions are mostly carried out in foreign currencies.
The affected banks claim that customers who can prove that they did not make a transaction will get a refund, but this will need to be processed and investigated efficiently. Some banks also take insurance covers if fraudulent transactions cross certain limits. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also issued a mandate that requires banks to adopt chip-based cards for international transactions by June 2013.

Export your Contacts to another Cell

Easily Export your Contacts to another Cell Phone

The address book of your Nokia phone is stored in the online Ovi Contacts – just like Android phones use Google Contacts – but with one big limitation. Ovi, until now, offered no export feature so there was no easy way to download your phone’s address book from the web to the computer unless you had a Nokia device at hand. The Ovi Suite, Nokia’s desktop synchronization software, didn’t have an export option for Contacts either so your phone contacts were sort-of locked in Nokia’s cloud. Well there’s an easy solution now. Nokia is discontinuing the Ovi Contacts website (the service will stay but you won’t be able to access your address book from the web browser) and this could be a blessing in disguise for people like Shubha who have moved from Nokia to other platforms. Nokia has set up a microsite – exportcontacts.ovi.com – where you can download your entire Ovi address book in the popular CSV format with a click. You don’t need the Nokia device or the Ovi desktop suite to export your contacts. The CSV file can then be imported into Google Contacts and it will intelligently merge the duplicate contacts.You got to do this soon as, according to an email from Nokia, the web access to Ovi Contacts will be disabling after January 2012.

Save ur Missed Calls

Save ur Missed Calls to ur Google Tasks with Android

Any.do is favorite task manager for mobile. It is currently available for Android phones only but they are working on an iPhone app and also a web-based version that should make it available to all the other mobile platforms.

Any.do has a beautiful UI with large fonts and there’s voice input so you can add new tasks by speaking instead of typing on that small keyboard. My favorite feature though is the app’s integration with Google Tasks. Any.do can sync your task list with Gmail both ways so you always have access to your tasks.

Add Missed Calls to ur Pending Tasks List

The new version of Any.do’s Android app adds another interesting feature. If there’s a missed call on your mobile phone and you are too busy to return the call at that time, you can quickly add it to your pending task list with a simple click. Thus, you would remember to call that person and since Any.do synchronizes with Google Tasks, all your missed call notifications would also be available inside Gmail.

See: Auto-Forward Missed Calls to ur Gmail

Login to Earthquake Alerts for ur Area

Get Earthquake Alerts for your Surrounding Areas

The Twitter and RSS feeds will report earthquake activity worldwide but if you are only interested in receiving email alerts for your own geographic region, you should use the Earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey agency monitors earthquake activity around the world. It reports the geographic location and intensity of an earthquake and anyone can subscribe to this data through Twitter, RSS feeds and KML files for Google Earth.

Then there are desktop software like Quake Alert that poll the USGS website and will pop-up an alert as soon as a new “big” earthquake is reported anywhere in the world.

Here you have a Google Map and all you have to do is draw a custom polygon over regions that you would like to monitor for earthquake activity. You can mark one or more regions on the map, set the notification magnitude threshold (like only send me alerts for earthquakes with magnitude of 5 and above) and save your profile. The USGS website says that information for U.S. earthquakes is generally available within 2-8 minutes but for earthquakes outside the U.S., it may take up to 20 minutes to report the activity. Twitter may thus be a faster medium to get earthquake news but it cannot provide quantitative data such as location and magnitude.

Ur Mac Book can detect Earthquakes

You may also search like: Email Alerts Now Include Images, gets RSS Feeds, Web Search May Get RSS Feeds via Google Alerts, Keep Track of New Books with Google Alerts,

Benefits for Increasing Your Credit Card Limit

Increases Your Rewards

If you consistently pay off your balance in full and on time but you're not putting all of your expenses on your credit card, it might be time to start. Having a higher credit limit can help you do that. The conventional wisdom says that you shouldn't charge everyday expenses like groceries and gas to your credit card, but that advice only applies if you're carrying a balance - it's designed to help you avoid making a bad problem worse.

If you never carry a credit card balance, paying for recurring expenses on your credit cards won't cost you anything and can help you earn more rewards. Those rewards can actually reduce your spending in other areas by helping you pay for vacations, gifts, clothes and nights out.

Cheaper and Easier to Get Loans and Additional Credit

when you're not using nearly all of your available credit, you appear to be financially responsible to the credit bureaus and your credit score should increase. If your credit score is higher, you will have a better chance of getting approved for a credit card, car loan or mortgage in the future. You'll also have a better chance of getting a lower interest rate, since your credit score determines whether you'll be offered the best available rate or a higher, risk-adjusted rate.

Helps in an Emergency

Having a credit limit well in excess of your usual spending amount gives you a resource if you have a genuine emergency that you can't pay for with cash. Say you're traveling and you need to change your plans and return back home immediately - it probably won't be cheap to change your plane ticket, and it's easier to pay for a plane ticket with a credit card.

Lowers Your Credit Utilization and Increases Your Credit Score

The credit scoring model will ding your credit score if the amount of credit you've used is close to the total amount of credit available to you. That's because it considers you to be at risk of maxing out your cards and having trouble making future payments. You might know that these risks don't actually apply to you, but that's how the scoring model works.

If you have a 2,000 credit limit and you regularly end up with a monthly bill of around 1,800, you're using 90% of your available credit. Raising your credit limit will reduce that percentage and should improve your credit score.

Important

Increasing your credit limit just means giving yourself the opportunity to spend beyond your means, right? Not necessarily. Increasing your credit limit can have a number of upsides if you manage your credit wisely. If you know you're likely to spend up to your credit limit no matter how high it is, that major drawback will outweigh these benefits of increasing your credit limit. Otherwise, consider requesting an increase. It's usually as simple as sending an email to customer service.